


Keith's 'Physical Contact' Initiation Program

by alisayamin (sh_04e)



Series: Lisa's Voltron Platonic Gen Fics [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anxiety, Badass Holt Siblings, Blood and Injury, Childhood Memories, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone else is so done, Family Bonding, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Gen, He is not a cameo anymore, Hugs, Humor, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inappropriate Humor, Innuendo, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Keith wants hugs, Last chapter is just fluff with everyone and Keith, Light Angst, Matt & Shiro big bro combo, Matt makes a cameo in ch.3, Matt was so cool in s4 trailer that he has now been officially added in this fic, Panic Attacks, Pidge knows Keith is an overgrown cat, Pidge wont stop with the fisting jokes, Platonic Cuddling, Puppy Piles, Rating is T cuz some cursing and inappropriate teenage imagination, Sleepy Cuddles, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Team as Family, Touch-Starved, Trauma, Voltron delivers, everything is platonic unless you want to squint and look more into it, lance is in denial, things get serious in ch4 and ch5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-10 16:31:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11695548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sh_04e/pseuds/alisayamin
Summary: Keith didn’t move and neither did Pidge. It was a little awkward until Keith finally said, “Maybe we could officially officiate this..?”“What do you mean?”“Fist me.”Pidge recoiled and sputtered, “Keith, what the f-” She was cut off by Shiro’s bellowing laughter from the observatory deck.With his straight face unchanged, Keith lowered his left hand with the stopwatch and lifted his right hand, fisted.Pidge actually sighed with so much relief, “OH. You mean fistbump! Right.” She slapped her forehead to remove the very very wrong image her imagination drew for her, “Holy shit, Keith, we need to work on that but yeah sure, I’d be honoured to officiate your physical contact program whatever.”OrThat one time Coran realized Keith was too distant and decided to make him undergo the 'Physical Contact' Initiation Program which then led to --> 5 times the paladins realized Keith was an actual cat.





	1. Intro & Pidge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realise that this fic already gained more than a 1000 kudos... It's my first fic to ever get that high wow... Thank you so much, really ;;3;; To you new readers, enjoy! To you re-readers, love ya!
> 
> P/S: Fic was written before s4, follows the shiro-clone theory, and disregards Keith joining BoM sorry >_< I don't really wanna change this fic to adhere to s4 but maybe someday I will lol

 

Keith liked public and private displays of affection. Not from experience, but from observing it around him.

Even with sweaty hands, couples or families still grasp onto each other.

Even under rain, people still hug or kiss because nature wasn’t going to stop them from doing what they wanted to.

He found it fascinating but never got the chance to be the receiving end of it from his rotation of foster homes throughout the years. Thus, he never got the chance to initiate it, fearing that he’d do it wrong.

As he grew older, people assumed Keith was not akin to any physical contact. And wanting to be accepted into social norms, made him think they were right. Maybe he really wasn’t worthy of those touches and gestures of affection he saw everywhere.

But Keith wanted it.

Even when he ended up in a floating castle spaceship, he still wanted it. He wanted to highfive the paladins like Hunk did after a good mission, he wanted to fistbump casually whenever they met like Lance and Pidge, he wanted to ruffle Pidge’s hair like Shiro did. He wanted that and more.

They didn’t seem to think he did though. Except maybe Shiro who patted his back and occasionally bumped their shoulders. Shiro was different since Keith and him go way back and Shiro was used to taking Keith’s cues for physical contact (which was scarce but present at times).

The others? Not so much. They believed that he preferred a smile with a nod rather than celebratory gestures. The one time Hunk initiated a group hug after surviving a gruesome battle, Keith reveled in it but Lance tried to break the hug off because he didn’t want to ‘overwhelm the emo red paladin with affection’. Keith actually swallowed down a distressed sound from the loss of the hug after Hunk agreed to Lance’s words.

Keith didn’t deny it because he wanted to fit in with his image. If he was portrayed that way, so be it. He didn’t want to be the weird kid again. He didn’t want to cause them trouble and maybe not want him around anymore. It was a stupid conclusion since he was the red paladin but there were too many times when faceless families of the past rejected him for his need of touch.

He remembered being swatted away when he tried to hold hands with his ‘parents’. He remembered being pushed when he tried hugging them like other kids did. He remembered being told that he shouldn’t embarrass them by thinking he was truly part of the family. Those were at least better than the families that beat him to a pulp or ‘forgot to feed the extra mouth’.

Thinking back on it, he wondered why some of those families even got accepted into the foster care system.

Keith was pulled back to reality when everyone in the room was looking at him, as though expecting him to answer an unheard question. Keith cleared his throat and loosened his posture, “Sorry, what?”

Lance flailed his arms, “See?! He’s not even listening! Keith wants nothing to do with this program, Coran!”

Shiro huffed a defeated sigh, “He just spaced out, Lance, give him a break.”

Coran piped and waved his arm to get Keith’s attention, “Well! I was saying, would you be interested in a ‘Physical Contact’ initiation program? You’ll be required to spend 5 vargas per day within contact of any of us! Sparring together, eating together or just lounging around like right now! Your progress will be monitored by the princess and I!”

Keith was dumbstruck for a few ticks. Were they really asking if he wanted to… spend time with his friends? (If he even had the right to call them that.)

“Me…?” Keith asked in disbelief.

Pidge rolled her eyes, “Yes. You, Keith. You never join us for dinner anymore and we barely see you out of the training room. Unless Allura sounds the alarm for an attack, we don’t communicate.”

Hunk shrugged, “It’s cool that you like your space, man. But we should.. I don’t know? Hang out more?”

Keith was a little taken back. Yeah, he started training more and avoiding dinner but.. that was because a few weeks ago, when he joined them for dinner (a little wet from swimming in the pool), Lance had groaned and asked why Keith was there and stinking up the whole place. No one said anything to deflect Lance’s comment. He took it as a sign that he wasn’t welcomed to dinner anymore.

Lance sighed out loud, “Of course King Broody doesn’t even know he’s avoiding us. Give it up Coran, he’s not gonna-“

“I’ll do it.”

All eyes were on Keith again.

“W-What?” Lance gaped, “Keith, buddy, did you just- ”

“Excellent!” Coran cut Lance off, “We’ll begin right away!”

The room remained silent as Coran left to wherever he was heading to, leaving the five paladins in the lounge.

Keith actually felt excited but he didn’t show it of course. He knew he wasn’t expected to be the type to get excited over a program involving physical contact. So, he just walked away from the wall he was previously leaning on and moved towards Pidge.

“You got a watch-device-thing for me to keep track of those five hours?”

Pidge snapped out of her disbelief of Keith’s willingness to participate in the program and instead looked around her messy pile of gadgets that she was working with prior to Coran calling them all together.

“Nope, sorry. But! I can make you one. What d’you want? A wristwatch good? I’ll even paint it red.”

“Yeah. I like red.”

Hunk gaped, “Oh my god, he’s even talking more than he usually does!”

Keith gave Hunk his best deadpan look.

Shiro got off from his spot and patted Keith’s back like he always did, “Glad you agreed. We’ve missed you.”

Keith looked confused but he replied, “Thanks..?”

He thought Lance’s comment and their lack of denial meant they didn’t want him around as much. Maybe it was a cue to a joke that he missed? Maybe his hair stunk from being soaked too long? Whatever it was, it was clearly a misunderstanding. They still wanted him around. And the best part? Keith finally had a reason to want to spend time with all of them for at least 5 vargas everyday.

He wanted to be as close to them as he was with Shiro. Keith wanted to know what it felt to have people he could casually spend time with any time of the day.

But it wasn’t like he physically craved it.

After all, you can’t crave something you’ve never had in the first place.

 

* * *

 

Something was wrong. 

Pidge could feel it in her bones. It wasn’t a ‘bad’ wrong. Just… wrong. Her whole perception of Keith was changing every minute ever since Keith agreed to the stupid bonding program Coran made up.

Keith was never good with words but he used them well enough. (Heck, Pidge won’t ever forget the time when Keith privately apologized for calling her selfish to choose her family over Voltron.) Keith was even worse with public displays of affections. It was like he was emotionally stunted.

But now that Pidge recalled, there were times when Keith seemed as though he wanted to.. join in whatever she was doing with Hunk or Lance. Maybe it was partially her own fault for assuming Keith didn’t like people in his personal space. She never offered him a fistbump or a high-five because she feared it wasn’t a ‘thing’ someone like Keith would want to respond to.

After Pidge finished the 5-varga-wristwatch stopwatch, she went to find Keith at the observatory deck. Shiro and Keith already informed her of their plan to watch the stars there in case she finished building the device early.

When the door opened, Pidge saw Keith sitting beside Shiro, both looking out to the slow moving stars and asteroid debris. She paused at the doorway because there wasn’t a single inch between them. It almost felt like she was intruding on a private moment.

The sound of the door brought their attention to Pidge’s arrival and she awkwardly dangled the stopwatch, “I finished it.”

Keith quickly got up and made his way over to her, “That was fast.”

“This is _me_ you’re talking about, Keith. Seriously?”

It was soft but Pidge didn’t miss it. Keith giggled in amusement. He damn right _giggled_. And it was freaking adorable.

“Sorry, genius.” Keith rolled his eyes. And then he lifted his left hand towards Pidge.

Taking it as cue to put it on, Pidge clicked the device in place and explained the side buttons for ‘Start’, ‘Pause’ and ‘Restart’. She also added a few modifications per Coran’s request where the watch would not respond to Keith’s biometrics so he couldn’t cheat his way out of spending at least 5 vargas with them.

“You might as well start now since Shiro and I are here so-” Pidge clicked the ‘Start’ button and they both watched as the 5-varga timer reduced with each passing tick.

Keith didn’t move and neither did Pidge. It was a little awkward until Keith finally said, “Maybe we could officially officiate this..?”

“What do you mean?”

“Fist me.”

Pidge recoiled and sputtered, “Keith, what the f-” She was cut off by Shiro’s bellowing laughter from the observatory deck.

With his straight face unchanged, Keith lowered his left hand with the stopwatch and lifted his right hand, fisted.

Pidge actually sighed with so much relief, “OH. You mean fistbump! Right.” She slapped her forehead to remove the very very wrong image her imagination drew for her, “Holy shit, Keith, we need to work on that but yeah sure, I’d be honoured to officiate your physical contact program whatever.”

Like with Lance, Pidge added a soft explosion sound effect after their fists bump, opening up her fist and lifting it away with wiggling fingers for emphasis.

Keith watched her curiously. And then proceeded to imitate both her action and sound effect. It was an acceptable attempt and the most endearing thing Pidge had ever seen Keith do.

The corner of Keith’s mouth quirked up a little till it became a small almost-shy smile, “I’ve always wanted to do that with you guys.”

Something was wrong.

Because Pidge was never wrong about her assumptions.

And yet, she was so wrong about Keith. 

Keith pointed back to Shiro, “Wanna watch the stars? We’re reenacting Star Wars.”

Pidge deadpanned, “The sequels?”

They both felt more than saw Shiro cringe as he asked, “Who even _watches_ those?”

“Prequels.” Keith confirmed with Pidge.

“Yeah sure.” Even though Pidge was already on her way to sit down with Keith sandwiched between Shiro and herself. “At least I know you guys aren’t heathens like Hunk and Lance.”

This time, Keith laughed with Shiro. And Pidge felt it to her core from being so close to Keith for the first time since they were cuffed together and had a food fight so many months ago.

After mapping out the stars, they were called to dinner. It was a lively affair with Keith back again. The bantering duo returned and all was well. Pidge backed out early and announced her presence at the lounge just in case anyone came looking for her later. Which, no one ever did except maybe Hunk or Coran when something needed fixing or scientific theories needed proven.

That night, someone came for Pidge, but it wasn’t Coran or Hunk.

“Keith?” Pidge questioned with a frown.

“Hey.”

“What’s up? Need something?”

Keith looked down to his left wrist where Lance had paused the stopwatch before they all retreated to bed from the showers. Lance was the last one awake at the time and if Keith was left alone with the watch running or if he didn’t fill his daily quota, he’d receive shocks (per Coran’s orders, again).

“I still got about 30 minutes I guess? Doboshes, was it? And…” Keith rubbed the back of his head, “Everyone’s asleep.”

Pidge mumbled, “I’m so removing that shock setting.” Then she waved Keith over, “Come here.”

After the ‘Start’ button was pressed, Keith sat on the couch opposite Pidge. He lifted his legs onto the cushion and hugged his knees. Keith was exhausted and he wanted to sleep. Maybe Coran shouldn’t have started the program so soon.

Pidge watched Keith slowly dozing off uncomfortably. Why was he so far away anyway?

“Keith.”

Keith opened his eyes and acknowledged Pidge with a blink or two.

“You know you can come sit closer to me right?”

Judging from Keith’s facial expression, no, Keith did not know that. Pidge realized that earlier, it was her decision to sit close to Keith, not the other way around.

Keith stubbornly remained quiet and it made Pidge exhale through her nose, “You can." before she quickly added, "If you want to.”

There was a barely noticeable nod from Keith. He didn’t move immediately. But after 5 minutes or so, he lowered his legs and stood up to make his way to the couch Pidge was sitting on - albeit the other side of it.

It wasn’t what Pidge expected so she tried coaxing Keith more, “Remember when I sat next to you earlier? Like really really close?”

Keith grunted in affirmation.

“I don’t mind that either. If you want to sit closer like that."

“…”

Pidge sighed when she didn’t get a response. So she continued tapping away on her hovering laptop. She finally mastered the tech and it beats having to work with a table every time. Pidge was sitting cross-legged with a hovering laptop at eye-level, trying to solve the advanced cloaking mechanism Hunk had helped modify a few days ago.

The clicking of the keyboard made it almost unnoticeable to the rustling of clothes when Keith moved closer to Pidge. The dip in the cushion next to her was the only warning she got before Keith’s body heat radiated through their clothes and a weight was present on her side.

Pidge turned to look at Keith’s head leaning on her shoulder, eyes barely staying open and his body laxed - legs lifted from the ground and onto the couch, bent at the knees and lying on its side.

“Hey sleepy head.”

“Mm.”

“I still got shit to do so if you fall asleep now, I can’t guarantee you I’ll wake you up to go back to your room.”

“..it’s fine..”

“Suit yourself.”

A few ticks went by and Pidge figured that while her shoulder was momentarily comfortable for Keith, he’d probably wake up with a stiff neck if Pidge worked all night. Then, she remembered-

“You know, I liked to sleep on my brother’s lap when he came home from Garrison on weekends. At night he didn’t sleep at all ‘cause he was always working on some biology project.” Pidge gently nudged her shoulder that Keith was resting on, “Wanna try it? My lap _is_ free at the moment.”

Like before, Keith was quiet. But he moved after a few minutes; his head sliding down Pidge’s shoulder and onto her lap. The hovering laptop was far enough above Keith’s head that it didn’t bother him. 

Again, Pidge found herself very endeared by Keith. She couldn’t help but run her hand through Keith’s hair like her brother did to her sometimes. She froze for a split second since that was uncharacteristic of her and probably breaching all sorts of personal boundaries for Keith. But then Keith was sighing and relaxing and everything clicked at once.

Keith liked it.

No.

Keith _loved_ physical contact.  

And he waited for her permission to engage in physical contact if she wasn’t already doing it to him. It dawned on Pidge that Keith was only ever alright with Shiro. Because Shiro was a giver and a receiver no matter who it was. But.. Pidge never did make it seem okay for Keith to receive or give to her. She didn’t high-five him, didn’t bump fists with him, just a smile, nod or thumbs up.

Keith obviously didn’t think it was okay for him to initiate contact with her. At least not the affectionate type.

As Keith fell asleep, Pidge swore that she would start the change and show Keith that they could hug every time they met for all she cared.

Some time through the hours, Keith had rolled over and buried his face in Pidge’s hip, cuddling into her torso. When she carded her fingers through his hair again, Keith snuggled closer. It was at that moment that Pidge decided Keith was a touch-starved overgrown cat and she was gonna make amends.

That was how Allura and Coran found them later on. Keith woke up before any of the paladins caught them though.

Keith was not a morning person judging from his face when he sat up from Pidge's lap. But he didn't react at all to how he had slept with Pidge. Instead, Keith stretched, and turned to Pidge. He smiled slightly before offering Pidge his fist for a fistbump. Her heart melted again at Keith’s explosion sound effect and stiff finger-wiggling (Keith was trying _so_ hard).

Keith treated the incident as something normal. Clearly it meant he was in his right mind the previous night and he really enjoyed and consented to the cuddling and close proximity. Oh yeah, Pidge was definitely going to smother him next time.

 

 


	2. Shiro & Hunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Season 3 was a wild ride and I'm drowning in Shiro conspiracy theories lol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all should know that this is my first voltron fic and its so overwhelming to see the support TuT You guys are awesome, and stay tuned for the last chapter~

 

Ever since Keith’s program started, the paladins found themselves with more ‘Keith-company’ and when he wasn’t around any of them, they’d get agitated and would go look for him. They weren’t too happy after Pidge complained about the consequences if Keith didn’t fill his 5-varga quota for each day. Being shocked or electrocuted was not cool but Keith didn’t object when they voiced about it.

For some reason, all of them went looking for Keith that one afternoon when he didn’t show up for breakfast so they ended up watching Keith battle the Level 8 training bots in the training room through the observation window.

Suddenly, Pidge spoke, “Hey guys. Ever realized how cat-like Keith is?”

Lance frowned, “Cats are tame, Pidge. He’s more of a hellhound.”

Hunk gave a thoughtful pause and then, “I’d say he’s a ninja.”

Shiro uncrossed his arms, “Why a cat though?”

Pidge snickered, “Trust me. He’s a cat.” She lifted her hands in an obvious manner, “Have my theories ever been wrong?”

“Urgh.” Lance groaned, “He’s not a cat, Pidge.”

“…Ye of little faith…” she grumbled as she walked out of the observation deck, “I’ll be with Green.”

“Yeah, I should start on making lunch soon.” Hunk excused himself.

That left Shiro and Lance to watch Keith swiftly dance with the training bot. Keith was fast. _Really_ fast. Lance had trouble keeping up with how quick Keith’s strikes were. Almost like how an agitated cat would fight back a threat-

“OH MY GOD HE IS NOT A CAT” Lance suddenly shouted, startling Shiro and Keith with his volume. Luckily, Keith had already beaten the last standing training bot so, the distraction didn’t affect him.

With one last glare towards Keith, Lance left the observation deck as well.

Shiro wondered if he should be worried.

“End training sequence!” Keith yelled. The bayard in his hand deactivated and returned to its original state. Keith allowed his tense body to slowly relax before leaning against the training room wall and sliding down till he sat on the floor.

The door swooshed open and in came Shiro.

“You did good, Keith.”

“Thanks.” Keith did his best to smile but it probably looked like a grimace, “Didn't want to lose my touch.” They haven't had an engaging mission in awhile.

“That doesn't mean you have to force your way through to level 8.” Shiro joined him on the ground, sitting right next to Keith, "And you missed breakfast."

"I was already fighting level 6 when I realized I was late," Keith shrugged, “Didn’t want to join you guys halfway.”

“I have no idea where you get the idea that you’re not allowed to join us for breakfast at your own time.”

Keith looked away from Shiro and stared off. The look in his eyes told Shiro that Keith wasn’t currently with him. Keith didn’t seem to be panicking so the memories he was seeing wasn’t in dire need to be woken from.

So Shiro waited.

The thing with Keith was that he needed time to share personal memories. He didn’t like to be judged by his past. And Shiro knew that Keith’s lack of social cues and his closed-off demeanor was due to his experience in the foster system. What little Shiro had known of Keith were just bits of information when Shiro caught Keith in a vulnerable state and Keith had let him in. Shiro was proud of Keith every time he managed to open up.

“There was this…family..” Keith started all of a sudden, “When I was about 9 I guess.”

Shiro noted that Keith’s eyes were still lost in past memories.

“I think I overslept one day ‘cause of a fever. I came down 20 minutes late for breakfast. They got mad.”

Shiro frowned in confusion, “Why were they angry?”

“I wasn’t on time.” Keith explained like how one would explain the weather, “Said that if I didn’t come down on time, meant I didn’t want any food. So they didn’t give me any.”

Shiro let those words sink in deep into his marrow. Then he turned to Keith and waited till the younger paladin turned to look back at him.

“Keith.” Shiro did his best to sound sincere, “You know we would never do that to you, right?”

“I…” Keith hesitated, “I guess. It’s not you guys. It’s just me. All in my head. I can’t just get rid of it. I was kind of there for more than just a few months. And it happened.. a lot of times.”

“Like a conditioning.”

“Yeah.”

Shiro released a heavy sigh. It wasn't easy to remove something like that from one's mind. Shiro was at a loss. All he could do was be supportive and try to reassure Keith that they would never do that to him. 

"Listen, Keith-"

"I know." Keith pulled his knees to his chest. He sounded a little angry with a hint of frustration, "I'm trying, okay?”

It was normal for Keith to be a little closed off after admitting some of his memories. Keith didn't like expressing his weaknesses. Not even to Shiro.

Nonetheless, Shiro smiled, “Well. You don't have to try alone. So I hope you don’t mind me dragging you to breakfast every now and then when I don’t see you there.”

Keith scoffed, “Fine.” He turned to Shiro and softly said, "Thanks Shiro."

Shiro never let his smile falter. Keith eventually looked away and hunched slightly to hug his knees. Shiro noticed that it made Keith's bangs cover his eyes. Shiro’s hand moved on its own to brush them away. It was a simple, gentle gesture; just a slide of soft hair and a tuck behind Keith’s ear. It was somehow enough though for Keith to lean into the touch.

Taking it as approval, Shiro’s hand continued its path to rub on Keith’s head.

And Keith- Well Keith closed his eyes, made a soft noise and _really_ leaned into Shiro’s hand. Shiro laughed inwardly because Keith reacted the exact same way Chi Chi would have when Shiro stroked its head.

Shiro stiffened.

_Chi Chi._

His **_cat._**

Shiro could already hear Pidge’s ‘I told you so!’.

Keith peeked one eye open when Shiro stopped. And Shiro’s heart stuttered because he knew Keith was asking for more. He gulped and proceeded to stroke Keith’s scalp because Keith’s responses were rare and precious. Shiro could tell that Keith would probably be purring if he was a real cat.

Keith opened both eyes only once and that was to tell Shiro “You’re good at this head thing... Should do it more often...”

After that, the only sounds in the training room was Shiro’s fingers running through Keith’s hair.

That is, until Hunk eventually called them for lunch. As they walked side by side to the dining room, Shiro swore to himself to give Keith head rubs any time it was appropriate. 

 

* * *

  

There was something up with Pidge. Hunk could see it in her body language. Shiro always sat next to Keith but not Pidge. And since when did Pidge bumped fists with Keith? And lately she became overprotective of Keith when Lance jabbed the red paladin. It was weird. Something happened that Hunk didn't know about. 

Would asking Pidge about it seem rude to Keith? Maybe Hunk should just get some alone time with Pidge. 

When lunch was done, he was about to ask Pidge but she was already dragging Keith away and talking a mile per minute about her latest invention; something about a device she wanted Keith to try. Keith awkwardly allowed himself to be dragged but not before he turned back to Hunk and- 

"Thanks for the food, Hunk." Keith smiled softly.

When did Keith last smile at him? Was it always that... cute? Hunk swore Keith's face lit up in that few ticks that he smiled. Was it Pidge's influence? Was it the physical contact program? Whatever it was, Hunk was totally down for this new Keith. 

In the evening, Hunk helped Coran tune up the ship's maintenance and then went to set the lounge up for movie night. He laid out blankets, fixed up the screen on one couch and connected the wiring to the projector. It took weeks for Hunk and Pidge to built everything from scratch but the end result was worth it. Then, Lance immediately initiated weekly movie nights / facial day where they could all unwind. Shiro joined them sometimes and so did Coran and Allura but Keith.. He never once did. 

Hunk always thought it was a little impolite for Keith not to have joined even once since Lance clearly made the invitation public. Maybe. It was sort of a 'Join-in-if-you're-free' kind of thing. Keith knew that.

...didn't he?

While Hunk was setting up the final wire, he realized it was bitten off in the middle.

"...the mice..." Hunk sighed and got up to find some extra wiring. Pidge should have some. She was probably working in the open labs. 

It was a little far but anything for movie night. When the lab doors opened, Pidge was definitely there. And so was Keith. 

Hunk was dumbfounded by the image. Pidge was sitting cross-legged on the floor and Keith was stretched out in front of her with his head resting in the niche of her crossed legs. Pidge was working on a small device right above Keith's face while Keith was- Keith was _sleeping_. Hunk could've sworn he had never seen Keith so at ease. He was usually tensed and ready for fight-or-flight. Hunk must've been standing and staring for quite some time because Pidge was starting to give him the weird look.

"Hunk, you still alive there?"

"Y-Yeah. Needed some of the red wire for the- um, the monitor. Yeah. Red wire."

Pidge snickered, "You don't have to look so scared you know. Keithy doesn't bite."

"Oh my god Pidge. _'Keithy'_? Really? You have pet names for Keith now?"

"I _told_ you." Pidge rolled her eyes, "He's a _cat_. If you want the wire, go get em yourself in the green toolbox. I'm not ruining the trust of a sleeping cat. Too much at stake here."

Hunk raised his hands in a surrender gesture. 

"And be quiet." Pidge sounded frustrated but also worried, "He didn't sleep yesterday."

"Why's that?" Hunk tiptoed to the color coded toolbox and quietly rummaged through for the coil of wires. 

"The usual. Nightmares. Trauma. The whole package. We all have it." Pidge paused to take in Keith's face again. He was frowning and fidgeting.

Pidge's voice was strained and spoken low, "Some just have it worse." Pidge put down the small device and instead used her hands to cup Keith's cheek and brush his fringe backwards. She gently massaged Keith's temples in an attempt to calm him.

Hunk never realized how much of an adult Pidge was until he saw her expertly soothe Keith. Come to think of it, how long had it been since they all left Earth? How many battles had they fought since then? How many lives had they taken without remorse? How many planets and civilians did they fail to save?

After a dry swallow, Hunk decided to change the topic, so he asked, "Do you think Keith ever knew he was invited to our movie nights? I mean, we could totally use the whatever program as an excuse to join us right?"

Pidge slowly perked up before turning to Hunk, "You're a genius."

After Keith woke up and they headed for dinner that was prepared by Coran, Pidge acted (poorly) about forgetting to press the 'Start' button when Keith became her test subject earlier. 

She shrugged nonchalantly, "Looks like you're gonna have to join us for movie night to fill your remaining quota~!"

Lance was actually excited about Keith joining.

"Dude, I have the perfect face mask for your horrible pores. You have _the face_! Why do you make yourself suffer with lack of care?!"

Keith retorted, "Because I like it just the way it is."

"Noooooooo" Lance whined and then went on about different masks and techniques he wanted to apply on Keith. 

Dinner was basically just Lance making suggestions and Keith rejecting all of them. 

Turned out, Keith didn't join them right after dinner. Hunk was so afraid Lance had scared Keith away. Halfway through the first movie, Lance was already sprawled out and snoring on the couch - overnight face mask already set. Hunk prefered to sit on the floor and lean on the edge of the couch instead. Pidge would join him and sit in the V of his legs. And they'd stay that way until they both fell asleep. 

Before joining Hunk, Pidge would work on her project somewhere else in the room, occasionally laughing at the movie or pitching in her thoughts. She only cozied up to Hunk after she was satisfied with whatever she was working on. 

Suddenly, the lounge doors opened and in came Keith. Hunk wasn't sure if he was surprised or not. 

"Hey Keith." Pidge offered.

"Hey." Keith looked to where Pidge was and then to where Hunk and Lance were, "Aren't you joini-"

"I am you dumbo. I'm finishing this up, then I'm showering _and then_ , I'll sit with you guys." Pidge continued working on her project and motioned Keith away, "Go sit with Hunk. Take my spot. You'll like it."

Now that was a surprise for Hunk. Pidge sort of called dibs to sit where she usually sat in between his legs, not even Lance dared to anymore. Not after she physically carried Lance off without a word just to reclaim her spot. 

When Keith walked towards Hunk, he had a very lost look in his eyes. 

"Over here, buddy." He tapped to the space in front of him and whispered, "It's Pidge's sacred spot. Seriously, not even Lance can take it away."

Pidge's voice loomed from the other side of the room, "I'm lending it to you for one night, Keith! You better appreciate it!"

Hunk admitted to being a little embarrassed if Keith rejected the offer. It kinda seemed impossible for Keith to want to even sit that close with Hunk but then he remembered how Keith slept on Pidge. It suddenly didn't seem so impossible anymore. And Hunk was right because Keith just quietly sat in between his legs and leaned back to sit properly. 

Keith turned behind to ask Hunk, "Is this okay?"

"I'm okay if you're okay, Keith." Hunk smiled.

Keith nodded and sat back against Hunk.

"Let me start that stopwatch for ya."

Keith let Hunk click the button on his wristwatch before giving his full attention to the movie. Keith watched the screen and tick after tick, Hunk felt Keith sink further into his torso. So this was what it felt like to earn the trust of a cat. Hunk had yet to witness Keith's 'cat-ness' but Pidge was hardly ever wrong. Aside from that, it was pretty cute how Keith's body shook with soundless laughter at the funny scenes.

As Keith got closer, Hunk could smell traces of the pool beneath the usual Altean shampoo they all used. It was almost strange. Hunk figured that every time Keith disappeared, he was training himself to an early death. He thought that maybe Keith liked to train and overwork himself more than doing something relatively simple and relaxing like...swimming.

"You're from the pool, Keith?"

Keith nodded. Then he tensed slightly, "Does it smell bad?"

"Nah, 'course not. Only Lance hates the smell. Said it was worst than chlorine."

Keith leaned back on Hunk again with an affirming grunt towards the chlorine comment, "Pool's relaxing though. Can't hear any thing under water. And its everywhere around you. S'nice."

Hunk swallowed a big lump in his throat. He deduced that Keith liked to submerge himself in the water. 'Its everywhere around you.' sounded so wrong though to Hunk. There was a twinge of pity building inside Hunk because it almost sounded like Keith liked it when the water 'hugged' him because nothing else ever did. Hunk just sighed and decided Keith's words wasn't THAT deep. Maybe he just liked water.

Before the second movie started, Pidge walked past them and threw a blanket to Keith's face.

"Take cover, I'm gonna sit on you after my shower."

Keith was left confused again so Hunk explained what Pidge meant. 

"Use the blanket to wrap yourself. This room gets pretty cold in a few hours and Pidge doesn't want to get up for you to take a blanket later."

It took some time for Keith to settle with how to deal with the blanket. But once Keith's upper body was wrapped, Hunk unconsciously started hugging Keith like he always hugged Pidge. And then there was a moment where Hunk completely believed that Keith would freak out and tell him to back off or something. But.. it never happened. Nothing happened. If anything did, it was probably just Keith squirming to get closer to Hunk.

The water-hugging theory hit Hunk full blown again and suddenly he blanked out. Before Hunk could process the whole thing, Pidge had already arrived, freshly showered and ready to pounce on Keith. She landed on Keith rather abruptly but Keith just opened up his legs to make more space for her. Both Hunk and Keith could smell the Altean shampoo from her damp hair. It was wild and looked as though she just towel-dried it aggressively.

Hunk watched Keith watch Pidge and saw how Keith turned to look at his sides where Lance's tools and products were scattered on Hunk's left and right. Pidge grumbled when Keith moved too much to release his right hand. Turned out, he was reaching for a hairbrush. 

Enough said, Hunk was totally on board the 'cat-Keith' theory as Keith began brushing Pidge's hair. It was like a cat grooming another cat and it was sweet and adorable. Hunk learned many things that night:

  * Keith was a cat who actually loved hugs, what the heck were they all thinking not hugging him all this time
  * Keith was so blunt and forward, he needed things (like slumber party invites) to be directed to his face
  * Keith laughs (silently). A lot. At either stupid jokes or plain sarcasm during movies
  * Pidge doesn't mind Keith playing with her hair (Keith styled it 12 different ways before brushing it to its original style)
  * Pidge really loved Keith? Pidge tucked in Keith's blanket and fixed his head position when she realized he was already asleep?
  * Lance has an internal clock that wakes him up in time for his facial mask removal
  * Hunk never knew he could stay up so late just because he enjoyed watching new reactions from Keith



It was a great night for them and a very enjoyable first experience for Keith who slept in the comfort of his friends. Hunk's arms around his hips, Pidge snuggled in his hold and Lance's hand somewhat dangling near his face. The snores that filled the lounge after the movies ended were soothing for Keith. It reminded him that he wasn't alone. Keith decided that movie nights were awesome.

Especially when Keith woke up still surrounded by the paladins and someone was stroking his head with familiar sensations. Keith felt really happy when he looked up and Shiro was there, smiling at him.

"Someone had a fun night."

Keith smiled. For once, being forced to participate wasn't a bad thing. No one needed to know that Keith knew Pidge reset his 5-varga timer anyway.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY BUT FAIR WARNING THAT THE NEXT CHAP WILL CONTAIN SOME HURT BUT I PROMISE LANCE'S (and planet Lanula) IS REALLY FLUFFY AND FUNNY
> 
> P/S: Lance is in denial because cats are cute and he refuses to admit that Keith is in fact (cute)


	3. Shiro, Matt & Lance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay so the Shiro part in this chap was supposed to be in chap 2 but I couldn't taint the slumber party scene when it ended so good ;3; 
> 
> And I decided to add Matt to help with the transition as well as to hint what I imagine happening in the future seasons. This fic takes place after the Holts were rescued, after the multiple Shiro's were dealt with and after Matt agreed to help stranded colonies saved by Voltron to find new homes.

 

Keith woke up with a scream he didn’t even recognise was his until he swallowed and felt how raw his throat was. There were those faces again and that fear that made Keith want to crawl under his bed. Keith found it ironic how he’d battled countless of aliens and creatures but none could replace the memories from his past.

His nightmares consisted of mostly his time during foster care and sometimes Shiro or Keith's Galra blood. But he overcame the last two since Shiro was alive and real and everyone accepted Keith as part Galra. The first one though? Nothing could rewrite that. Years of trauma were built-in inside Keith.

He couldn’t remember what the nightmare was about but he knew he saw those faces and he remembered that feeling he always had as a child. Constant anxiety of what was to come. Even as Keith sat up on his bed, he could feel the restlessness that often accompanied him during his childhood.

There was only one thing Keith knew what to do when he woke up covered in cold sweat and elevated heart rate.

He took his bayard and left for the training room.

 

* * *

 

It was only a few days ago when Shiro talked with Keith about the breakfast issue. And already Keith failed to show up again. Shiro waited with the others but when it was clear that Keith wouldn’t be joining them, Shiro announced that he was going to find the red paladin.

Like before, Keith was in the training room but Shiro could tell something was off.

Not only was Keith battling at level 10 but his stance and attacks were erratic and almost too desperate. Shiro took a deep breath before he went into the training room and called the training sequence off.

Keith didn’t even fight back. He was just standing where he was, body tensed and breathing too hard, eyes barely focused.

“Keith?” Shiro approached slowly. He’d seen Keith act the same way only once before and that was during their time at Garrison. Something had triggered Keith. Or would trigger him very soon if Shiro couldn’t calm him down.

Shiro made himself visible to Keith while keeping space so he wouldn't overwhelm Keith too much, “Hey Keith. You with me?”

When Keith finally looked at Shiro, Shiro was struck down by the utter terror in Keith's eyes. Keith froze for one second before he clearly started hyperventilating and was falling to the ground in his panic. Shiro closed the distance between them and pulled Keith into his arms. They both ended up sitting on the floor.

 

* * *

 

Keith knew he was too keyed up. But he just couldn’t stop. When he was battling the level 7 training bots, he knew he was already late for breakfast. And he wanted to remember Shiro's words but he couldn’t because _he was already late and they would just punish him if he came-_

Keith didn’t know how long he mulled over his past families but every time the bots came barrelling towards him, Keith fought them back. At a certain point, Keith swore those bots had faces. Those sneers that his foster parents and siblings used to wear and taunt him with; people who would hurt him over and over for no reason other than the fact that he existed.

Along the way, Keith completely forgot who he was actually battling and began fighting off those faceless people from his nightmares.

Suddenly, they disappeared. That was when Keith panicked. Where were they? Why did they vanish? Why was everything so unclear? Why was it so hard to _breathe_ -

“...keith...”

He heard his name in midst muffled words. Someone was talking to him. It was a familiar voice. Keith let himself look for its source and came upon Shiro's worried face.

Keith was battling his fears earlier. That meant he was still dreaming wasn’t he? This was all a nightmare. That meant this Shiro wasn’t real, this Shiro wasn’t real- Why couldn’t he breathe?! Not the real Shiro, _nottherealShiro_ —

He was falling and then suddenly he was wrapped in warm arms and that voice was speaking again, calm but grounding.

“Breathe with me, Keith. C'mon you can do this. Breathe with me. Inhale. One two three-.... And release.”

Keith felt the steady rise and fall of the person's chest. Why was it so hard to breathe? Keith tried again and again, following the timed instructions from that voice.

“Good. You’re doing so good. Again.”

Keith could feel air finally enter his lungs. He wanted to cry in relief.

“Again.”

Then, Keith remembered. Everything was hazy but he knew he was in the training room. He had a nightmare the previous night so he went to train. At least, that’s what he wanted to do. Did he miss breakfast? Was that why Shiro was holding him?

...real? Not real..?

 

* * *

 

Keith was finally getting air inside his lungs but before he was fully calm, Shiro felt Keith tense up once more and began struggling to breathe. Something was triggering him and making him go under again.

“Keith c'mon. Don’t sink back in. What can I do? Please tell me. Talk to me, Keith.”

Keith was gasping with each inhale as he clutched onto Shiro's arms to ground himself, “..can’t... Can’t tell...you...you're.. real...not real...”

And that would’ve broken Shiro if he wasn’t mentally prepared to be the one who made things worse for Keith. He knew it wasn’t his fault but Keith would always be traumatized by that time when none of them could tell apart the real Shiro.

Shiro quickly pulled out his communication device from his pocket and sent a hailing signal to the only person it was connected to aside from the residents in the castle.

A sleepy venomous voice followed by a clear hologram emitted from the object, _**“Shirogane Takashi. Let me lecture you about this little thing called TIMEZONES.”**_

“Matt.” Shiro tried to alert Matt by facing the hologram towards the very distressed Keith in his arms.

 _ **“Seriously,”**_ Matt was still rubbing his eyes, deaf towards the urgency in Shiro's tone, ** _“I’m charging you for intergalactic calls at ungodly hours-“_**

“Matt!”

_**“What?!”** _

Matt finally looked properly at the screen and the sounds of Keith's inability to breathe finally came through. In an instant, Matt's face went from horrified, worried to lastly, all-too-friendly.

**_“Oh hey Keith! Haven’t heard from you in awhile!”_ **

Keith was still too keyed up. He was still desperately clutching on to Shiro and had yet to acknowledge the hologram.

 ** _“Did Shiro pick on you? C'mon, tell your big brother Matt about it.”_ ** Matt waited patiently for Keith to finally lift his head from Shiro's chest ** _, “Hey Keith. You okay? What do you need? You know you can count on me.”_**

Keith took a breather before almost sobbing, “....real?”

Matt smiled warmly and nodded, **_“Yeah, Keith. Its real. Me, you, Shiro. All real. Remember when I got back? And the first thing Katie did was punch me in the face and then tackled me to the ground?”_**

Shiro chuckled at that, “She would correct you and say ‘It's Pidge now you uncultured swine'.”

Matt laughed and Keith finally breathed easier because these were new memories. New memories were real. He was safe. Keith finally began to calm down in Shiro’s arms.

 ** _“You alright there, Keith?”_ ** Matt asked kindly.

As his breathing slowed, Keith croaked out, “..Keep talking...”

Matt tilted his head, **_“That. I can do.”_ ** He stretched his arms to rid of his sleepiness before addressing Shiro, **_“Actually y'know what? You called at a good time. I don’t always get your signal but its good to know that you got mine. Anyway, the colony I’m helping to rebuild needs a few stuff. I was gonna call you later to talk about it but now’s a good time as any. Okay, so-....”_**

Keith let Matt's voice drone on as he spoke about asking Allura's permission to visit a planet for resources. Along the way, Shiro's hands slowly went from resting on Keith’s back to carding through his hair. Keith melted under that touch. He remembered Shiro doing 'the head thing' a few days ago. It was real. Shiro was real.

 ** _“Ah.”_** Matt thoughtfully nodded at Keith relaxing and leaning into Shiro's hand, **_“So that’s what Katie was talking about the other day.”_**

“Its Pidge.” Shiro and Keith corrected in sync.

**_“Urgh I am never getting used to that. Anyway, it was good seeing you guys under any circumstances. Gotta go set up before the locals find out I’m slacking. Get back to me with that Lanula planet alright, Shiro?”_ **

“Got it Matt.”

**_“Take care guys.”_ **

Once the hologram faded and the call ended, Shiro was left with a pliant Keith in his arms.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Keith sat up properly and finally looked at Shiro in the eyes, “Had a bad one last night. Then...everything sort of blended in and I started seeing things.”

“Want my advice?” Shiro smiled as he tucked in Keith’s stray bangs behind his ear like he did last time.

“What?”

“You don't deal with nightmares alone. Don’t I always seek you guys when I can’t sleep? And you told me many times not to feel guilty about it. Why don’t you lean on us too?”

Keith pondered and exhaled heavily, “I’ll try.”

“That's all I ask for.” Shiro moved to stand up and offered a helping hand to Keith, “C’mon. Our breakfast is getting cold.”

“You haven’t eaten yet?”

“I told you I’d come get you. What’s the point of coaxing you to eat breakfast if you’re gonna eat it alone?”

Shiro really knew how to make Keith feel important enough to be cared about. Keith was really touched but he didn't know how to properly react to that much kindness. He could only smile at Shiro and earnestly say, “Thanks Shiro...”

After breakfast, Shiro told him about their current day off. Most parts of the castle would be under lock down but the lounge and training room were open. They both guessed that the others were in the lounge except for Coran and Allura who were most likely in the command room.

“I’ll need to go see Allura about the planet Matt mentioned just now. You wanna come with?”

Keith shook his head, “Nah I'm good.”

“Training room?"

Keith hesitated, "...actually. I was thinking about hanging out with them at the lounge?”

Shiro looked surprised before his face broke out into a grin, “Go ahead then. I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

Keith nodded and parted with Shiro at the corridor that led to the lounge. He wasn’t expecting what he saw when the doors opened.

It was a huge mess. Pidge's stuff was everywhere - on the couch, on the floor, hovering in mid air too. On one couch, Hunk took the only space available next to all of Pidge's things and Pidge herself was on the other side of Hunk. The other couch was occupied by playing mice as well as a sprawled Lance, lying on his back with a pillow under his head.

“Um...” Keith started but Pidge cut him off.

“Keith if you dare touch any of my stuff, I will disembowel you.” Without looking at Keith, Pidge continued, “The one day I’m about to have a galactic breakthrough and they decide to shut down the whole ship. Unbelievable.”

Keith could barely read Hunk's lips that said _‘It’s that time of the month.’_

Luckily, Keith wasn’t really in the mood to ‘assist’ Pidge. He just wanted to sleep off the events from earlier. The floor was not comfortable without a pillow and Pidge was busy. Hunk was also working on his own little project. But Lance. Lance was doing absolutely nothing. Just lying on his back and enjoying whatever view he was staring at.

Keith didn’t want to assume Lance wouldn’t mind so he cautiously stood in Lance's view and said, “Lance I want to lie down.”

Lance's face went from easy-going to annoyed, “So? What? You expect me to move for your royal butt?”

Keith would never understand how Lance could possibly come up with new names for him in a split second.

“No. I meant I want to lie down with you.”

Lance stared at Keith's face, clearly confused with what he heard.

Keith thought he had said something wrong so he tried to fix it, “I mean, ‘on you'?”

“You-“ Lance pointed to Keith with his forefinger, “-want to lie down with me?” Lance looked even more bewildered, “What the heck, Keith?!”

Keith frowned. How did they always end up fighting anyway? ”If that's a 'No', fine."

For some reason, Lance took it as a challenge. Keith could see it from his face and hear it in his voice.

“As if!” Lance gestured his hands in a false facade of invitation, “If you dare to lie on my perfect body, be my guest!”

And that was as good as a yes Keith was ever going to get so he climbed over Lance on the couch. Keith nestled his bottom half in between Lance's legs before letting his body lie on top of Lance's; Keith lying on his stomach with his chin resting on Lance's chest, right below his pectorals.

Lance looked terrified and surprised all at the same time, “Y-You’re actually lying down on me.”

Keith just stared at Lance’s face with a raised eyebrow. He couldn’t keep it up though because the fatigue from earlier finally caught up. Keith was exhausted.

Something must’ve changed in his expression because Lance's hands were suddenly all over Keith's face and head.

“You're that tired, huh?”

Keith shrugged using one shoulder. Lance's fingers trailed over Keith's hairline before those nimble tips dipped and began tracing Keith's eyebrows.

It made Keith ten times drowsier and he felt as though his eyelids couldn’t keep open any longer. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation. When Lance stopped, Keith opened his eyes to see Lance surprisingly smiling at him, not an unkindly expression for once.

“You’re really easy to put to sleep, Keith.”

Well, that was a new fact Keith found out about himself. He had never been deliberately put to sleep before. Not that he could remember. And even if he did, it was never from gentle fingers massaging his eyebrows.

With Lance smiling and seeming to be in a good mood, Keith decided it was the best time to initiate their very first fist-bump.

“Lance.”

“Yeah, Keith?”

“Will you fist me?”

There was a moment of complete silence before Pidge broke and started howling with laughter and Lance was suddenly shouting, “KEITH. WHAT. WHY WOULD I FIST YOU. DUDE, NO.”

Truly, Lance had never felt so shocked and horrified before. The question came from Keith of all people. And Keith had the nerve to look sad about it!

“You won’t fist me..? But you do it with Hunk and Pidge,”

“I DO NOT FIST HUNK AND PIDG-“ Lance paused and tried to figure out what Keith was saying. Then, he realized, “Keith. Did you mean, fist-bump?”

Keith nodded, “Yeah bumping fists. Fisting.”

Pidge started laughing again and Lance was so done with everything.

“Pidge, stop laughing right now before I throw you out the airlock.” Then Lance sighed and gently cupped Keith’s head on his chest, “Keith, buddy. Fisting and fist-bumping are two completely different things. Listen to me. Don’t ever use ‘fisting’ again.”

“I don’t get it. Is it like punching?” Keith tilted his head in confusion.

Pidge snickered from the opposite couch, “Ooooh yeah, definitely. Punching you in the ass-“

Lance quickly covered Keith’s ears to preserve his innocence as he cut Pidge off with a glare and a threat, “KATIE HOLT I WILL SHOOT YOU”

“TRY IT MCCLAIN I’LL FIST YOU FIRST” Pidge shouted in good humour before she was laughing again.

“STOP WITH THE FISTING” Hunk finally joined in, looking flabbergasted at Pidge.

Lance was about to shout again to agree with Hunk but then he felt soft vibrations from his chest. He looked down to see Keith laughing softly with his eyes closed.

When Keith opened them, he smiled at Lance and spoke with fondness, “You guys are so weird..”

Lance wondered why he never noticed how...docile Keith was. One minute he was scowling or killing himself in the training room or making bad impulsive decisions and then he was suddenly on top of Lance, enjoying Lance's hands gentling him.

Was Keith always so unguarded? Did he always allowed all of them to touch him so freely?

Lance experimented and started fondling Keith’s ears, massaging his scalp and then tracing his eyebrows again. By the time Lance reached Keith's eyebrows, Keith was practically a puddle and a comfortable dead weight atop Lance's body.

With eyes still closed, Keith mumbled, “..your hands nice.. Like everyone's too... But different...”

Lance’s tone was light with a touch of laughter from hearing Keith so out of it, “Of course our hands are all different, dummy.” His fingertips were still rubbing circles on Keith’s eyebrows.

Keith grumbled somewhat as though he was unhappy Lance didn’t understand his point, “...like..Pidge is like feather touches... Shiro is big and warm...but Hunk is bigger... And yours-“ Keith added sleepily “Yours are really long and soft..”

Lance watched as Keith's breathing evened out. He watched as his long time rival and dear friend fall asleep right on top of him. He watched as the most defensive person he’d ever known, completely let his guard down, trusting Lance wholeheartedly. To say that Lance's heart melted was an understatement.

“I told you he was a cat, Lance.” Pidge rubbed it in.

Lance rolled his eyes, "Fine, Pidge." He stared at Keith's peaceful sleeping face and smiled, "He is, isn't he? Cats don't give a shit. If they wanna sleep there, they'll find a way and sleep there."

Lance sighed and put his right arm on Keith's back and his left over his eyes. He might as well get some real sleep too.

By the time Shiro and Allura joined the paladins to inform about their new mission sent by Matt, Lance and Keith were long asleep.

Hunk was the one who pointed out as it dawned on him, “Aw man! Lance forgot to press the ‘Start’ button! The past vargas didn’t count!”

Allura smiled at her sleeping paladins, “No need to fret, Hunk. Shiro told me of Keith’s desire to spend time with all of you rather than alone. I believe it is time for Keith's graduation from the program.”

Lance was slowly waking up after he started hearing multiple voices. It was previously quiet after Keith fell asleep. Lance smiled at seeing Keith's cheek still squished to his chest. He still had horrible pores. Lance was so putting on a facial mask next time Keith slept with him.

“That’s awesome!” Hunk smiled sheepishly and added, “I hope Keith actually comes to us after that watch is taken off though.”

Pidge snickered, “Of course he would! Why wouldn’t he? Don’t you remember what Keith said? He loved how Lance's is long, Shiro's is big but Hunk is bigger~”

Shiro's eyes were as wide as Allura's at the implication, Hunk was yet again flabbergasted and Lance actually groaned, “Hands, Pidge! Hands! He was talking about our hands!”

Pidge's laughter and Lance’s retorts filled the lounge again but Keith still remained comfortably asleep.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the s4 teaser, I headcanon that Matt was VERY involved in saving Shiro so Keith's grasp on the real Shiro heavily relies on Matt's presence. If Matt is real, then so is Shiro, or something like that. And the memories after Shiro's rescue belongs to Shiro and Shiro alone so that is also Keith's grasp cuz cloned Shiro would probably only have the old memories, not the new ones.
> 
> Lance is precious and he is precious with Keith and if y'all never tried the eyebrow thing on anyone, try it. (Babies go to sleep real fast from my experience and adults usually just enjoy the sensation enough to feel drowsy and fall asleep.)


	4. Lanulans & Mythrins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Due to popular demand, I'm extending this fic and this chapter and the next chapter will be serious and will involve fights and injuries. If you're just here for fluff, I'm sorry but it stops at chapter 3 TwT... Chapter 4 is partially fluffy while chapter 5 will be fluffy only towards the end.
> 
> This chap is late cuz it was revamped for Matt Holt's awesomeness and badassness in the s4 teaser. Also because all of you have been very supportive even tho this fic is new so while I'm in my writing drive, I'm gonna update this as daily as possible. Love you awesome nerds.

“Planet Lanula?”

Allura nodded her head in Lance's direction, “A sacred planet with telepathic inhabitants.”

Pidge leaned back in her seat, “Matt said it’d be invasive ‘cause they’ve lived without barriers around one another.”

Coran hummed, “Yes, that is true. They also believe in the balance of life. They wouldn’t agree to any sort of exchange if they weren’t getting anything either."

“See? That’s just fishy. I trust Matt but what exactly are we giving to them?”

Shiro crossed his arms, “We received a transmission from the Lanulans stating that our presence is enough as payment.”

Pidge scowled towards the floor. They didn't have a good history with things that could get inside their minds. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her head. She looked up to Keith's neutral face but Pidge knew it was Keith's way of telling her not to worry or overthink too much.

Keith turned to Allura and Coran, “How can we trust the Lanulans?”

Allura looked troubled, “That’s the thing. They don’t trust us just as much as we don’t trust them. Therefore, we must only have faith that they won’t bring us harm.”

Keith crossed his arms before addressing Shiro, “If it helps the colony Matt is with right now, I’m willing to take chances.”

Shiro smiled as Keith's words eased the tension in the room. Pidge sighed with a resigned face while Lance and Hunk nodded to give their tacit approval.

“Besides, Pidge can punch Matt later if things go south.” Keith shrugged with a smirk sent to Pidge.

That finally got Pidge to respond positively, “You bet! Fine, let’s go to meet the lunatics.”

“Lanulans, Pidge.” Allura corrected, not knowing that Pidge mispronounced on purpose.

“Whatever. When will we get there?”

Coran perked up, “It’s quite near actually! A jump is unnecessary. We should arrive within a few vargas!”

Hunk raised his hand, “Soooo we done here?”

Allura smiled, “Not quite. Keith!”

Keith jerked in alarm and sceptically faced Allura, "Yes...?”

“Coran and I are very happy with your progress in the ‘Physical Contact' Initiation Program. Which is why we believe that it is time for you to graduate from the program!”

“Congratulations, Keith my boy!”

Only the two Alteans were smiling though. The other paladins were all staring at Keith, watching for his reaction.

Keith looked...lost. He slowly lifted his left hand with the 5-varga stopwatch. He wouldn’t have to wear it anymore. He couldn’t- There wouldn’t be any reason for him to spend time with the others-

“Keith.” Lance's hand rested on Keith's shoulder from behind.

When Keith turned, Lance was smiling. Then Hunk's hand patted Keith’s back and Pidge nudged his side.

“You know,” Pidge started with a friendly tone, “You don’t need that watch to spend time with us.”

“We always want you around Keith.” Hunk added.

Shiro walked up to Keith and offered his left fist, “We lean on you and you lean on us from now on, okay?”

Keith stared at Shiro’s hand. Then, his eyes met Shiro's and he slowly smiled, “Okay."

Keith bumped his fist with Shiro's. Both of them did the sound effect and it made the rest of them laugh from how cute it was to hear the explosion effect from both Keith and Shiro. 

“Good.” Pidge smiled, “I expect you to be my chair and body pillow whenever I need you.”

Hunk exclaimed, “I want high-fives and hugs!”

“We get to ask Keith for stuff now?!” Lance's eyes widened, “Bro, let me put a facemask on your pretty face! Puh-lease!”

Shiro took one look at Keith's ‘overwhelmed' face and took pity, “Alright guys, that’s enough. Training first.”

Pidge and Lance groaned out loud.

Keith looked to his stopwatch again and wondered if he would change once he took it off. He also wondered if the others would actually rely on him for physical contact as well. There was only one way to find out.

With a loud click from the clasp, the 5-varga timer came off.

 

* * *

 

After lunch, they finally arrived at planet Lanula. And it was beautiful. The colours of the planet were radiant and seemed to emit a glow.

Coran explained, “The planet itself is sentient and is connected to all the creatures and inhabitants. Similar to the Balmera but different in many ways. The forestry are so colourful as to avoid outsiders from approaching. Bright colours are not a good sign for most species. The glow that you see is actually poison.”

Lance gawked, “And we’re going to land on this planet?!”

Coran nodded, “Well of course we are! No worries though, as I said the planet is sentient. The poison are spores controlled by the planet and will not be poisonous to those it deems safe to pass through.”

Pidge whistled out loud, “Matt would love samples of this whole place.”

“He actually whined about not being able to get the sources himself.” Shiro chuckled.

Once they safely penetrated the poison layer of the planet, Coran positioned the castle in the sky, fearing that the ship would not be welcomed on land.

Allura and the paladins suited up to visit the surface, leaving Coran in charge of the ship. He would also monitor their vitals and positions from above. Should anything happen, Coran would at least be able to pinpoint who was where.

“Stay safe all of you.” Coran nodded to the group at the open hangar just before they activated their jetpacks and flew down to the surface.

Hunk was the first to land on very pastel teal dirt, “It...sort of feels like normal ground. Just the colours are off.”

The others joined in at the clearing. Lance wanted to cringe a little at the utter shocking mix of colours, “It looks like a 3-year-old's colouring book.”

“Its not so bad.” Pidge shrugged.

Allura cleared her throat, “May I remind you that everything is sentient on this planet. Including the planet itself.”

Shiro looked around, anticipating the locals but there was only a foggy mist, silence and colourful trees and plants around them.

Meanwhile, Keith was...drawn to something. He wanted to move forward towards the south direction. There were trees there. Nothing special considering the whole planet was full of trees. But the trees in the south... He really really wanted to-

“Keith!”

Keith turned at hearing Shiro's voice and he saw that everyone was staring at him with mildly surprised and worried faces.

“Where are you going?”

It was at that question that Keith realised he had walked away from where he was standing beside Hunk earlier.

“I.. Don’t know.”

Lance went up to Keith, “What do you mean you don’t know? Dude, what’s wrong?”

Keith didn’t know how to explain his impulse. Before he could even think of what to say, a beautiful voice began echoing around them.

_‘That child.... He is partially telepathic.’_

Suddenly, translucent floating creatures in androgynous humanoid shapes emerged from the colourful trees right behind Keith. Their facial features resembled the Altean princess and her human paladins. The Lanulans glowed beautifully and gracefully glided above the ground.

_‘Welcome to our home. Please forgive us for the delay in welcoming you. We had to absorb your spoken languages as well as your features before we are presentable and able to communicate.’_

The whole party still looked surprised because the Lanulans were talking in their heads. Allura recovered the quickest, having a knack for telepathy, and let her political side take over.

“We appreciate your effort and gesture to ease our communication. I am Princess Allura and these are the paladins of Voltron.”

_‘We are aware of your identities. Information of your party was informed by one named Matt Holt.’_

Pidge frowned, “How did my brother contact you? He’s over hundreds of galaxies away from here.”

_‘The planet he currently resides on shares a common plant with our home. He was able to retrace the plant to our current location. He has deduced that telepathic lifeforms of the same species share unbreakable bonds. Thus, he used the bond to relay messages to us. He also expressed great distress for not being able to participate with your party.’_

Pidge scoffed, “Yup that sounds like him.”

Shiro took a few steps forward, “We were sent to collect a few more of your plant samples to help the other planet strive. I know you’ve agreed but we are still unclear on what you’ll be receiving in return.”

_‘We merely crave your presence. Our home is very protective against outsiders. Therefore, we are unable to study other life forms. Would you spare us a short moment of your time for research purposes? You have our word that all collected data will be confidential.’_

The paladins and the princess exchanged looks among each other but said nothing to refuse the trade.

Allura sighed, “I believe we’ve reached a general consensus to agreeing to your terms.”

_‘Wonderful! If possible, we would like to show you what our planet has to offer. We have seen through you and would gladly like you to experience our home based on your likings.'_

Keith could hear Pidge mutter, “...invasive little shits...”

_‘Yes we are aware that you are not exposed and therefore not used to telepathic transfer of knowledge. Forgive us if our methods are rude to you but here, it is how we have always lived.’_

“We understand.” Allure smiled, “We’d be honoured to receive your hospitality. Shall we-“

“Wait wait.” Lance frowned at the Lanulans, “Are we separating from each other for this tour thing?”

_‘Yes that would be more beneficial as you would all be able to experience your own enjoyment of our home.’_

Pidge deadpanned, “Great.”

Hunk looked up to where the castle was still floating, “Coran you copied that? We’ll be separated for the tour thing.”

_**“Alright, I’ll monitor all of you from above here.”** _

Shiro looked to the Lanulans and gave a charming smile, “Lets go then.”

The group of Lanulans dispersed and approached the princess and the paladins. Allura and Shiro were the first to be led onto a hidden pathway, accompanied by one Lanulan each. Next, Pidge followed a smaller Lanulan similar to her size into a camouflaged underground tunnel under purple shrubs. Lance and Hunk went on to a different pathway between two indigo trees, also accompanied by a Lanulan each.

That left Keith staring after all of his friends and a group of Lanulans staring at him. When they had Keith's attention the tallest Lanulan stepped forth.

_‘The red paladin, young Keith, you have telepathic capabilities that you aren’t fully aware of. You gravitated towards us earlier before we even made our presence known.’_

Keith crossed his arms, “So? What does that have anything to do with anything?”

_‘It means we are not meant to guide you as how we’ve guided your companions. Although the Altean princess is telepathic she is shielding rather strongly. You however, are open to all channels. You can navigate to where you most desire to go on your own. However, if you’d like, we will send a guide with you. For company.’_

Keith looked away but nodded his head.

A single Lanulan stepped forth and smiled at Keith, _‘I shall accompany you, Keith. Please lead the way.’_

Keith didn’t know shit about telepathy or why he was sensitive to it but he had been itching to move in a specific direction. After he was assigned his guide, Keith started mapping his way to where his gut kept telling him to go. When he looked back to the clearing they had landed on, the translucent Lanulans had disappeared.

 _‘Our species are not beings with permanent shape nor structure.’_ the Lanulan beside Keith explained.

“So you guys just...float around?”

_‘Our consciousness resides within our home. We only take form when it is necessary.’_

Keith didn’t ask questions any more after that. The pull he felt earlier became a noticeable ache in his chest. He needed to get there. Wherever ‘there’ was. After what felt for hours trekking the colourful forest, Keith finally spoke again.

“Where have you taken the others?”

The Lanulan closed its eyes for a few ticks and then opened them, _‘The one with the inquisitive mind is visiting one of our sources of life, the visible underground lines of Sclerina. She is rather excited about it.’_

Keith could almost see Pidge sitting down and admiring whatever the heck those lines were.

_‘The carefree one along with the kind-hearted one are currently indulging in the forest's beauty and delicacies, both edible and inedible.’_

Keith wasn’t entirely sure if the Lanulan was referring the ‘inedible' beauty and delicacy as female creatures that Lance wouldn’t miss the opportunity to get friendly with.

_‘Your two figures of authority are enjoying the nostalgic sights and smells of places they will most likely never visit again.’_

Keith paused in his steps. He wondered if they were showing Shiro something from Earth and Allura something from her destroyed planet. He hoped it was something special.

“And what about me?” Keith asked as he made a final climb of a small crimson-grassy hill. When he reached the top, he literally froze.

_‘You, Keith, have chosen the territory of the Mythrins.’_

Keith was standing in front a whole pack of what looked similar to leopards and lions except some of the manes were shorter and their colour was a variation of red and some were spotted black. They looked hostile and ready to pounce but Keith didn’t actually feel threatened.

It was as if they were just surprised by each other’s presence.

Keith awkwardly squatted and lifted both hands to perhaps placate the tension. All of a sudden, a high-pitched mewl broke out and then a smaller Mythrin peeked out from the pack. Keith had to admit that it was adorable.

A baby Mythrin most likely – red fur accompanied by a black tail and black ear tips. It approached Keith on stubby legs and sniffed his hand.

The baby Mythrin mewled again and began rubbing its head against Keith's palm. Keith grinned and began caressing the small creature. A purring sensation was emitted from the baby Mythrin's core and Keith suddenly wanted to hug it close. As though reading his mind, the creature pounced on Keith and snuggled into his neck and face. Keith laughed softly at the tickling of the soft red fur against his skin.

_‘We are telepathic, Keith. Although you are not able to fully understand them, they do understand you.’_

Keith sat up and looked to the whole pack of Mythrin. The baby in his arms mewled again and nudged his chin.

 _‘Come meet my family.’_  said a voice Keith never heard before.

The baby Mythrin nudged Keith's chin again as he turned to the Lanulan still floating beside him, “Was that-?”

_‘Yes, Keith.’_

Telepathy was so weird. Keith ended up carrying the baby Mythrin to its family and sitting himself under a tree where the Mythrins took turns acquainting themselves with him. Up-close, the Mythrins were even more beautiful. They sniffed his face, nudged his body and crowded him. Keith found that he liked it because it was as if he was surrounded by big red domesticated cats.

When all of them were done with introduction, they piled themselves on top of one another and Keith as well.

There were two Mythrins draped over his outstretched legs, one curled up on each of his side, a few Mythrins were perched on the low branches of the tree Keith was resting under - their black tails within Keith's sight and lastly, the small baby Mythrin nestled itself in his arms.

Keith was a little tired from the trekking earlier. So when the Mythrins started purring, he knew he was fighting a losing battle. Keith's eyes drooped and his eyelids began feeling very heavy. The Mythrins were warm and soft and comforting. Keith felt as comfy as he did during his first movie night with his friends. Within a few ticks, Keith was asleep.

The Lanulan that accompanied Keith smiled and approached the Mythrin pile, particularly the baby Mythrin in Keith's hold.

_‘Thank you, young one.’_

The baby Mythrin mewled quietly.

_‘Yes, he does have a lonely soul. But it has been healing greatly with the help of his companions.’_

More of the Mythrins began speaking, questioning the whereabouts of the others.

The Lanulan closed its eyes again, feeling and accepting the messages from its species, _‘I believe they will be here soon. They care rather deeply for this one.’_

 

* * *

 

Pidge had been prodding the supposed magical ley lines of planet Lanula for the past few vargas. It was nice for a while but then her butt started hurting. If Keith were around, he’d probably let her sit on his lap or something. What was Keith doing anyway?

 _‘You are concerned for your companion.’_ her Lanulan guide spoke in her mind.

Yeah, Pidge was never going to get used to the invasive mind reading thing but there was no point in being rude.

“Not concerned, just wondering.”

What if Keith got in danger and Pidge was too low underground to receive Coran's distress signal and messages?

_‘You are concerned.’_

Pidge groaned, “Urgh, fine I’m concerned! Lance is his impulse control and none of us are with him and I have no idea what he’s doing or where he is-“

_‘That is why I am here. Your companion, the lonesome one is currently resting among the Mythrin clan. They have accepted him as their own.’_

“Wait hold up. The ‘lonesome’ one? Really?”

_‘That is what his soul reflects. He is lonely and impulsive yet is pragmatic and pure. He makes a fine leader. You, Pidge are inquisitive and brave although your determination is not always correctly placed. On the other hand, your carefree companion has endless insecurities. Your kind-hearted companion hides behind veils of anxiety. And your leaders, the princess and the black paladin share similar worries of their position of authority. Your party holds very distinct character references. It is endlessly fascinating.’_

Pidge wanted to scream that they had no right to poke into any of her teammates' psych like that but she knew it was pointless.

There was no point denying that they were still right and as long as the information wasn’t used against them, it’d be fine. 

With a defeated sigh, Pidge asked, “You said Keith was with the...Mythrin? Are they dangerous?”

_‘From your memories, it is possible to say that the Mythrin resembles the larger feline species of Earth. They’re big as lions and have similar manes but some Mythrin are spotted like leopards.’_

Suddenly, Pidge was totally over with the character review of her whole team, “Holy shit, are you telling me that _our cat_ is hanging out with _other cats?_ What am I still doing here, can you take me to him?”

_‘Of course.’_

Unbeknownst to Pidge, somewhere else on the planet, Lance and Hunk had asked the same thing about Keith when he was referred to as ‘lonesome' and were surprised at the on-point dissection of their team. But upon hearing about the Mythrin, they too were excited to visit their lonesome companion.

 

* * *

 

Shiro hadn’t seen anything like the cherry blossoms in Japan for over a decade. Although the smell differed, the colour of the petals and the structure of the trees were similar enough to trigger old memories of his childhood.

The Lanulan that accompanied him explained, ' _These are one of the plants that will be among the sources needed by Matt Holt. We were informed that it holds significance to you, despite having certain different traits.’_

“Yes. The smell is different but the sight...” Shiro took in a shaky breath, “It's exactly the same...”

Before the forest of cherry blossoms, Shiro had watched Allura cry in a field of what looked to be yellow bluebells. He had watched her kneel and slowly pluck one stem of the flowers. With tears still streaming, she said it smelled exactly the same as the purple juniberry of planet Altea. She cradled the precious flower and sobbed quietly.

It was painful to watch but he knew it would do her good, knowing that even with the lost planet, some of its essence resembled others in space.

Shiro didn’t know how long he stood in the middle of the falling flower petals but he was eventually joined by a much better-looking Allura.

They smiled and stood side by side.

“Does this place...remind you of Earth?”

Shiro nodded, “Not just Earth. But my home country. A place I used to live and grew up in. It doesn't smell like this but it looks exactly the same. The falling petals, soft pink hue, everything.”

“...its beautiful.”

“Yeah, it is. Are you alright?”

Allura sighed, “I will be. I wasn’t prepared for such a memory to hit so hard. Forgive me for my display earlier.”

“I think you have every right to react the way you did."

“Mm.” Allura wondered out loud, “How are the others faring you suppose?”

“No idea.”

Both their Lanulan companions behind them spoke, _‘They have gathered in one place despite pre-separation into different parts of the planet.’_

“What?” Shiro and Allura turned and asked in sync.

_‘They have gravitated towards Keith who is resting among the Mythrin.’_

“Resting?” Shiro's brows furrowed in worry, “Is he alright?”

_‘Perfectly.’_

Allura was curious as to why the others had chosen to go to Keith rather than back to the clearing or back to her and Shiro.

“May you take us to where they have gathered?”

_‘Certainly, Princess Allura.’_

Both Shiro and Allura were guided through higher grounds until they reached a red-grassy plain with large trees. They could already hear the commotion that often accompanied the paladins. As they came closer to the edge of the plain, they could see a pack of large feline creatures as well as their teammates.

Pidge was holding what seemed to be a camera. Hunk was feeding some of the creatures something. Lance was posing with the sleeping Keith. Oh, and Pidge also sounded like she was crying.

“Um...guys?” Shiro started.

That got their attention. Pidge turned and yes she was crying, “LOOK AT KEITH. HE’S IN HIS NATURAL HABITAT.”

Lance added, “Shiro, he has a baby red lion in his arms! A BABY RED LION! HOW CUTE IS THAT?!”

“These guys are so adorable.” Hunk said while still feeding the creatures some sort of yellow fruit, “Can we bring some back and colour code them to our lions or something?”

Allura started laughing and went to calm Pidge down who immediately started showing Allura all the pictures of Keith in his ‘natural habitat'.

Shiro just shook his head in disbelief at his whole team. But it was really worth it to see Keith sleeping with a bunch of red lion-leopard hybrids. With his red armour, Pidge's statement really hit the mark.

When Shiro tried to wake Keith up, Keith's eyes opened for a while with a glazed look. Keith didn’t respond more than a string of tired incoherent words. Keith's Lanulan guide knelt beside Shiro and explained. It turned out, Keith’s exhaustion was due to lack of shielding for his partially telepathic body. The planet's energy was too much for Keith's untrained and unshielded mind. Hunk actually had to carry Keith back to the castle.

With only Pidge, Lance, Shiro and Allura present, the Lanulans presented them with the seeds of the plants Matt requested. The paladins thanked the Lanulans for their hospitality before they began flying back to the castle.

Allura was about to launch as well but she hesitated for awhile when she suddenly smelled the purple juniberry again. That was when one of the Lanulans stepped forward and presented her a small bag of seeds.

_‘These are a personal gift from our home. We hope to ease your lost even if only a little.’_

Allura accepted the seeds with a sad smile, “Thank you...”

_‘And a word of advice, princess.’_

“Yes?”

_‘It would be best for you to teach young Keith the art of shielding.’_

“I would if I had known his hybrid body was sensitive to telepathy. Thank you again. It has been a pleasure to visit your planet. I hope you’ll welcome us again someday.”

The Lanulans glowed slightly brighter than before, _‘We’d be happy to.’_

Once all was safe aboard, Coran navigated the ship out of the atmosphere and into space. Keith woke up with a head-splitting headache as soon as they were out of the planet's radius. He sat up from the bed in the infirmary and tried to remember what was going on. He fell asleep with the Mythrin and suddenly he was waking up in the castle. That was pretty much it.

Keith put on his outer clothes that were folded by the bed and staggered off in search of the other paladins. He figured they’d be at the command room but as he passed the lounge, he heard voices so he detoured.

When the doors opened, the first thing Keith saw was a picture on the monitor screen Hunk always used for movie nights. And the picture was of Keith sleeping among the Mythrins.

The people in the room froze as they all looked back to Keith. There was Shiro, Lance, Hunk, Allura, Coran, Pidge and even Matt on Shiro's hailer.

There were only two people who carried cameras everywhere they went and that was Lance and Pidge. When Keith started glaring at Lance, the blue paladin quickly pointed to Pidge.

Matt spoke up from the hailer, _**“Keith you’re so adorable and Katie, good luck.”**_

Just like that, Pidge started sprinting with Keith hot on her tails, “PIDGE, DELETE THOSE PICTURES.”

“NEVER!”

Laughter erupted as Keith's attempt to catch Pidge died as soon as Hunk hugged him off the ground from behind, “Dude, you just woke up. Chill a little.”

“I will _chill_ after she deletes-“

Pidge went back to the monitor to retrieve her memory card before squinting at Keith, “Never.”

“Why do you even have those pictures?!” Keith was still limp in Hunk's arms mainly because Hunk gave the best hugs and Keith wasn’t really in the mood to fight out of the comfortable hold.

“Really Keith? You’re the red paladin who pilots a red lion! And then you fell asleep! WITH RED LIONS.” Pidge emphasised with hand gestures, “Do you even understand how CUTE that is?”

Keith stared at Pidge with a bewildered look. He didn’t understand how any of that was cute. Everyone seemed to have the same thought judging by their faces earlier and Matt's compliment as well. What was so cute about him sleeping with the Mythrins? Looked more of a moment of weakness in Keith's opinion.

“Congrats Pidge.” Lance deadpanned after Keith failed to respond, “You broke him.”

Hunk went to sit on the couch with Keith still in his arms, “I think Keith has trouble with compliments.”

“You can say that again.” Lance crossed his arms, “Keith is much cuter with the lions than he is trying to comprehend compliments.”

“....m'not cute....”

It was spoken so softly, even Hunk barely heard it. But everyone turned to Keith anyway who was looking anywhere but at them. They could see the tips of his ears turning red and a scowl on his face. And Keith was...almost pouting?

If they thought sleeping Keith with the Mythrins was cute, they were wrong.

Embarrassed blushing Keith was the cutest Keith.

 

* * *

 

Pidge secured the seeds in the small compartment of the transport vessel. Matt was still being hailed on Shiro's device that was placed in the cockpit, watching Pidge set up the vehicle.

_**“You guys got everything ready?”** _

“Just a few more stuff. We’ll see you in less than a varga, Matt.”

**_“Who're you bringing? Keithy?”_ **

From the rear entrance of the vessel, Keith appeared carrying other provisions from the castle that the colony might need, “Quit calling me that.”

Pidge whispered to her brother as she leaned closer to the hologram, “He's still upset about the ‘cute' lion thing.”

“I am not!”

Matt nodded his head, **_“He so is...”_**

“I hate you Holt siblings..” Keith muttered under his breath while fastening the last supplies to the vessel.

“Don’t lie Keith, you love us.” Pidge teased.

Keith rolled his eyes but with a smile on his face. Once everything was secured, he joined Pidge at the cockpit.

“Everything’s loaded. Once we get there, we’ll hail you again.”

 _ **“Got it. See you guys soon!”**_ Matt smiled.

“See you, Matt.” Pidge and Keith replied together.

The hologram disappeared as the call ended. Not too long after that, they could feel the castle exiting the wormhole jump. In just a few minutes, they’d be able to see Matt again after months of separation. Keith and Pidge watched as the hangar doors opened for them. They exchanged a nod before putting on their helmets and taking their place in the duo-pilot seats – Pidge on the left and Keith on the right.

Shiro appeared on the left screen of the cockpit, ** _“Alright you two, you’re clear for take-off. Initiate the sequence of the location I’m sending to your coms.”_**

“Got it.” Pidge replied and keyed in the coordinates.

_**“You know what to do if you need any help.”** _

Keith gave Shiro an exhausted look, “We're literally just dropping off supplies and seeing Matt, Shiro.”

Shiro laughed, ** _“Alright alright. Just stay safe.”_**

Once Shiro was disconnected, Pidge smirked and turned to Keith with her right fist lifted. Keith bumped their fists and smirked right back.

“Let’s do this.” Pidge pulled down the levers and activated the thrusters. Simultaneously, Keith navigated the transport vessel and flew out of the hangar.

“We should hail him.” Keith said as they began approaching the colony planet.

Pidge activated the device that was left on the dashboard of the cockpit and began hailing for Matt. After a few dobashes, it was clear Matt wasn’t picking up.

“That's weird. We were just talking to him earlier.”

Keith frowned, “Pidge, I have a bad feeling about this.”

Part of the planet's atmosphere was slightly different from what Keith remembered. There were specks of black everywhere.

“Wait a tick...” Pidge squinted, “Those are...”

Those specks began moving and as they got closer, Keith realised what they were. He quickly contacted the castle, “Shiro! There are unknown ships in the planet’s atmosphere!”

Shiro reappeared on the left screen, ** _“Friendly or hostile?”_**

Before Keith or Pidge could determine, Coran was shouting in the background, **_“Hostile! Those are pirate ships!”_**

“Quiznak!” Pidge cursed, "Why now?! Maybe that's why Matt's not picking up. They're under attack!"

**_“Keith! Pidge! Get back to the castle! You are not armed!”_ **

“Shiro, I don't think-“

A loud explosion burst right in front of their transport vessel, hitting their shield. The pirates had already began attacking them. Apparently the pirate ships were a lot faster than Keith predicted. He tried to manoeuvre the vessel but they were already surrounded by more pirates. Keith and Pidge grunted as they took another hit, this time from above.

“Shield is at 26 percent!” Pidge panted, “Guys, a little help!”

 _ **“Hold on!”**_ Allura took over the left screen, _**“We’re bringing out the lions!”**_

Keith swiftly evaded two more shots and punched the vessel forward, “I'm bringing this vessel to the planet! We'll check if Matt and the colony are alright. Keep them distracted in the atmosphere!”

 _ **“You got it, Keith.”**_ Lance joined in the coms from inside the blue lion.

 ** _“I can’t believe we’re battling actual pirates!”_ ** Hunk exclaimed.

Shiro's voice came through as well, _**"Keep it together team. Cover Keith and Pidge as best as you can.”**_

Pidge sighed in relief when she saw the lions flying out of the castle. Instantly, the lasers stopped shooting in their direction. Keith flew with ease through the planet's layer of clouds and began preparing for descent. Something was gnawing at Keith's insides to go to the back compartment. Since he recently discovered he was telepathic, Keith gave in to his gut feeling.

“Pidge, take over the controls, I’m gonna check on the resources.”

“Okay.”

Keith unbuckled and went to the back towards the supplies. They were hit a few times and if it jeopardised any of the compartments, it was better to salvage as much as he could.

Suddenly, the hailer on the dashboard made a high-pitched noise and Matt's panicked face came to view.

“Matt! What’s goin-“

_**“KATIE! DO NOT LAND! THERE ARE HOSTILES WITH LONG-RANGED WEAPONS AND-“** _

Matt was cut off when the transport vessel jerked roughly. Pidge let out a sharp cry during the impact, “What the heck was that?!”

She turned to check and saw something penetrating the base of the vessel, right in between the cockpit and the back compartment. It was glowing red and blinking, making rapid ticking sounds as though-

The moment it clicked for Pidge, her eyes widened. She shared one horrified look with Keith who figured it out as well as he stood near the supplies in the back.

Pidge tried to reach out, “KEI-“

But it was too late.

 

* * *

 

Matt ran as fast as he could through the forest trees and shrubs. Earlier, just as he ended the call with his sister and Keith, the emergency alarm was sound. They were being attacked. He didn’t think to hail the castle. He only thought of securing the defenceless colony into the underground safe house he had built with Hunk's help all those months ago.

After securing the colonists, Matt along with some of the capable colonists began fighting off most of the melee pirates near colony grounds. They also used stealth when dealing with the long ranged enemies in the trees. Matt felt victorious when they started gaining the upper hand.

But when he saw the transport vessel in the sky, Matt felt his blood run cold. He didn’t warn them. The castle could be seen along with some of the lions battling rogue fighter ships but Pidge and Keith were still in that transport vessel.

Matt ran. He ran and ran, desperately trying to hail them.

When he finally connected, he tried to tell his sister not to land. They were going to be shot down-

Matt was cut off.

He saw the launched missile.

He watched as the transport vessel exploded in the sky, parting at the midsection and scattering to different parts of the forest.

“...no...no...” His eyes widened. They just talked to each other. It was just a simple drop-off mission. He was supposed to be seeing them again.

Matt screamed, “KATIE! KEITH!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still can't express how much I love the Holts so be prepared for the badass Holt siblings in the next chap ^3^


	5. Pirates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry.

 

Pidge groaned and slowly came to to the sound of someone frantically calling her name.

_**“....idge..? ...Pidge...! ....Keith?....hear me...? PIDGE!”** _

She wondered why the voices sounded muffled. Why did she smell fire? Why was her body aching? What happened-

In a split second, Pidge remembered. She jerked awake and shouted, “KEITH!”

Pidge breathed harshly as she sat up and took note of her surroundings. She was still in the cockpit but it was badly damaged and partially burning. Pidge turned to where she last saw Keith but the back compartment of the transport vessel was completely gone. She unbuckled from the pilot seat and climbed out of the vessel and out of the crash site. It had created quite a massive hole from where she had landed.

Her coms were just broken static with occasional mentions of her name. Pidge quickly took off her helmet and adjusted the wiring, enough to receive transmissions from the lions and the castle.

“Guys?” she asked as she put her helmet back on.

 _ **“Pidge! Thank god. You and Keith stopped responding a few minutes ago.”**_ Hunk sounded relieved.

Shiro pitched in, _**“You guys alright?”**_

Pidge withdrew her bayard and activated it, “I'm fine. I gotta find Keith. The vessel split in half when those pirates blew us up. Coran, can you track Keith's location?”

_**“There’s too much interference at the moment! But I'll inform you if there are any updates!”** _

Pidge let out a frustrated sound before she took off running in what she theorized was the direction of the other crash site depending on the direction of the cockpit's landing.

 _ **“Calm down Pidge. If you’re okay, what makes you think Keith isn’t?”**_ Lance tried to be positive.

Pidge didn’t dare say that Keith wasn’t in any sort of secure seat when they were shot down. He was standing. He was directly hit by that bomb whereas Pidge was protected by the pilot chair. He was exposed to every possible sort of injury caused by the crash impact whereas Pidge was safely protected by her seatbelts.

Pidge never ran so fast in her life.

When she heard and saw movement up ahead, Pidge quickly blended in with the green shrubs. Of course there were pirates still lurking around and Pidge was clearly outnumbered.

She waited till they were close enough before she jumped from her hiding spot and nearly sliced the enemy's neck before her bayard was countered by a strong short staff that belonged to one person only. When she looked at who she had attacked, Pidge couldn’t help but throw herself at her brother.

Matt hugged his sister dearly, “...I thought I’d lost you, Katie...”

Their reunion was short-lived as Pidge forcefully pried herself from her brother, “We have to find Keith.”

Matt looked confused, “But weren’t you both in the cockp-“

“Before we landed, Keith went to check the supplies. He was in the back, Matt.”

“The other half...” Matt turned around and calculated the angles from where he had seen the pieces crash. He finally chose the closest possible angle and nodded to his sister, “This way.”

 

* * *

 

Keith really felt as though he was suffering from déjà vu. Once again, he woke up to a head-splitting headache as he lied on somewhere flat. This time, it really was because his head was partially split open. An open wound on the right side of his head was bleeding profusely, caused during the vessel's impact to the ground. Blood started streaming down his right eye as he sat up slowly. 

There wasn't any immediate tools he could use to stop the bleeding so Keith opted to keep his right eye closed.

At least he vividly remembered everything that had happened. He wasn’t sure how he had lost his helmet but it really made things worse. Keith could barely move without feeling the throbbing pain from his head injury.

Keith looked around the crashed vessel and noted that most of it was intact and he was lucky enough to even still be alive. He hoped Pidge was safe. Groaning out loud, he tried to stand up using a loose provision crate for support. That was when Keith noticed that the compartment with the seeds were completely unharmed. The gut-clenching feeling he felt was still present.

Keith staggered towards the compartment and opened it. The feeling disappeared the very moment Keith carried the bag of seeds in his arms. Keith didn’t know what the pirates wanted with the colony planet or with Voltron, but for some reason, the one thing he was determined to do, was not to let them have the seeds from Lanula.

Keith was confident that Voltron would win. They were just pirates after all. But Keith couldn’t take any chances. As Keith weakly made his way out from the vessel, he held the bag of seeds closer and started speaking in laboured breaths.

“No idea what I’m doing... But I’m supposed to be able to talk to you guys... So here goes...” Keith dropped to his knees when he reached some soft soil amongst the green grass, “Bad guys are here... Not sure if its for you guys but...” Keith began digging a hole with his bare hands, “If they are... I need you guys to just stay here okay?... If you can disperse through the soil.... that’d be great... Matt would be so proud...”

Keith laughed lightly just at imagining how Matt would react to sentient seeds. Keith began pouring the seeds in when the hole was deep enough, “...but if you can’t.... I’ll come back for you guys... I promise...”

Keith closed up the hole and used some of the pebbles in the vicinity to cover up the raised soil. He was satisfied when the hiding place of the seeds blended in with its surrounding.

It seemed to have taken all of Keith’s energy as he struggled to even see straight. The blood from his gaping wound began dripping off his face and onto the ground. Keith knew it was bad but he didn’t have the energy to find something to apply pressure to the wound.

Using the tree barks to help him stand and walk, Keith made his way back to the crash site. He saw his helmet far away from the transport vessel. It must’ve rolled out before the crash.

Keith's left vision was a little off and there was almost always a constant ringing sound Keith couldn’t get rid off; most likely due to some sort of concussion. But Keith didn’t miss the shapes appearing from the trees. Judging from their similar attire, it must’ve been the pirates. All of them carried some sort of melee weapon so at least Keith didn’t have to worry about guns or lasers.

Keith took a deep breath and felt for his bayard and blade from his armour. He activated and awakened both his swords and prepared for battle. In that instant, the pain didn't matter.

When the pirates advanced, Keith shouted in their direction and swung both his swords. His right eye had to be remained close due to his head wound, so Keith used his luxite blade to defend himself and deflect all possible attacks directed to his right. Although he was surrounded rather quickly, Keith fought with determination.

He spotted 12 shapes earlier. As he took down another pirate, he counted there to be only 4 left standing. Keith was already sluggish in his movements but he strived to eliminate the enemies.

By some stroke of luck, Keith did it. All 12 were unarmed and knocked unconscious. But by then, Keith was too exhausted. His vision worsened and his arms started shaking.

Keith was too busy trying to pull himself together, he almost didn’t hear the rustling of leaves behind him. By the time he did, all Keith felt was pain bursting on his back. Keith let out a painful cry as he tried to stay awake and not pass out from both the pain and the impact of hitting the ground.

He could almost hear the enraged roar of his lion.

It gave him hope. Keith gripped his swords as he forced himself to try to get back up, “...not...yet..."

 

* * *

 

Lance cried out as a sharp noise rang in his ears, “...the heck..?!” It got him distracted enough to the point Hunk had to fly close by to cover him.

 _ **“Lance! You got hit or something?”**_ Hunk quickly asked.

“No..” Lance frowned. He knew that sound for some reason. Then it echoed again in his head, “..shit!! You guys don’t hear that?”

 _ **“Nothing except the constant firing from the pirates. Lance, what’s wrong?”**_ Shiro's voice cut through.

It was a familiar sound that only he could hear. If it wasn’t coming from Blue, then- Lance realised what the sound was, “Coran. How’s the red lion doing?”

Coran sounded surprised, _**“Oh it just started firing in its hangar! Probably trying to claw its way out!”**_

Shiro and Hunk sounded distraught, _**“...Keith...”**_

Lance gulped and gripped his handles. He could feel the red lion's wrath and he accidentally channelled it through his next words, “Allura. I’m gonna need you to meet me at Blue's hangar. Suit up, you'll be taking her for a spin and shooting down pirates.”

 _ **“Lance...?”** _ Allura asked worriedly, not used to Lance sounding so serious.

“Look... Red is screaming in my head right now. If you open that hangar and let it go, Red's probably gonna burn the whole planet to the ground just to kill all the pirates.” Lance took a breather, “That's why she needs me right now. We’re going to get Keith.”

For awhile, everyone was silent. It was Allura who broke it, _**“I understand. Coran, you’ll handle the castle.”**_

_**“Yes princess!”** _

Lance punched his lion through a group of the rogue pirate ships. There were still so many even after they had taken out dozens each, “Hunk! Shiro! Cover me while I switch out with Allura!”

_**“Roger that.”** _

_**“You got it, Lance.”** _

Once Lance safely landed in his hangar, he patted the interior of Blue's cockpit, “Be good to her like you were last time. I’m not leaving you. I just gotta save that guy’s ass again.”

Blue purred in his mind, accepting the momentary change of paladin.

“Thanks, girl.”

Lance exited the lion and was greeted by Allura in her nostalgic pink paladin uniform. Lance smiled at her and passed her his bayard, “She’s okay with this.”

“I know. I heard her.” Allura's face was pinched in worry, “Please bring him back safely.”

Lance nodded curtly before running past Allura and towards Red's hangar. At the doors, Lance hesitated to push the button to open it.

“Coran? How’s the red lion now?”

_**“Well, it just stopped all attacks a few ticks ago!”** _

Lance slammed his hand on the control panel and watched the doors open. Red was standing right in front of him, waiting. Without being prompt to, the red lion opened its mouth and dropped the stairs leading to its cockpit. Lance smirked and nodded, “Lets go get our boy.”

 

* * *

 

As the Holt siblings began running through the forest together, Pidge realized that her coms were officially busted and there was no way she could communicate with the others anymore.

When she told Matt, he replied, “Our base has a communication centre. But its far off and I don’t think you want to establish a connection with your team more than you want to see Keith right now.”

She hated it when he was right.

“Are we even moving in the right direction?” Pidge grumbled as they ran past tree after tree. All of it looked the same.

“It should be. I estimated the trajectory from where I saw your vessel explod-“

There was a distant pained shout coming from straight ahead of them. Pidge knew whose voice it belonged to and so did Matt. Both Holts picked up their paces as Pidge reactivated her bayard and Matt extended his short staff on both ends.

“Target arms and legs for melee pirates and heads for long-ranged ones.” Matt spoke quickly.

“Understood.” Pidge braced herself for battle when the pirates finally came to view.

Both siblings didn’t hesitate. Pidge jumped on one of the gunners and shocked his head with her bayard before using the lasso extension to shock the other gunner beside her. She rolled when the gunner fell and began attacking all the pirates within her radius, alternating between whipping shocks and direct hits.

Matt expertly used his staff to deliver heavy sharp blows to every exposed body parts of the pirates within his sight. He used his momentum and staff grip to avoid gun shots by driving his staff in the ground and sliding across the grassy surface.

Halfway through their battle, they saw Keith join them with his dual swords. He looked worse for wear but Katie and Matt were just happy he was still alive.

Pidge noticed Keith's right eye was closed and covered with blood so she opted to fight on his right side to compensate for his blind spot.

After a while, the pirates finally seemed to start reducing. Pidge gave it her all and even went as far as to take down the last gunner that was hiding in one of the trees. She was forced to leave Keith’s right side in order to do so. After shocking the gunner unconscious, Pidge glanced back at Keith. She saw one of the fallen pirates stand back up from Keith’s blind spot. Matt saw it too but he was too far away to stop it-

Before either of them could warn Keith, a harsh kick was delivered to where Keith's head was seen to be bleeding; throwing Keith off the ground and crashing into a nearby tree. When Keith's body lifelessly crumpled to the ground, Matt and Pidge saw red.

Together, both siblings ran towards the pirate, Pidge with her bayard in her left hand and Matt with his right fist. The pirate didn’t stand a chance as the Holt siblings punched and shocked him into oblivion with an angry shout.

Matt watched to make sure the pirate was down for good while Pidge immediately turned and ran towards Keith in blind panic.

“Keith? Keith c'mon wake up!” Pidge gently cradled Keith into her arms. During the fight, she didn’t have time to see how bad Keith's condition was. At seeing him up-close, Pidge felt her eyes start to water. There was so much blood. How did Keith even managed to stand? She took in a shaky breath and started assessing Keith's injuries.

Matt joined her soon enough and cursed out loud from all the blood oozing out of Keith’s gaping head wound. He tore a huge piece of his hooded robe and bunched it up before pressing it gently onto Keith’s head.

“He..He needs a pod- Matt you gotta contact the castle- Y-You have to-“

“Katie, calm dow-“

“DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!” Pidge's voice broke, “Keith's not waking up, Matt... I don’t know what to do-“ Her tears finally began to fall.

This was different. Keith was always the last one standing. Keith was always the one to survive endless hours of fighting. Keith was always the one they would all wake up to when they emerged from the healing pod.

Keith wouldn’t get massive head wounds. Keith wouldn’t look so pale as though he was drained of every last drop of blood. Keith wouldn’t breathe so shallowly as though his heart would stop any time. Keith was not a paladin that would fall in battle.

A lion’s roar resonated in the sky. Pidge and Matt looked up to see the red lion fast approaching them. It landed with haste and out ran Lance, emergency bag in one hand, “Pidge! I got here as soon-.."

Lance had never seen Pidge so distraught before, “-as I could...” He took one look at the person in Pidge's arms and Lance’s heart broke, “...oh, Keith...”

He knelt in front of Pidge and quickly took out the fast-acting painkiller. After finding out Keith was half-galra, Coran had taken initiative to research the proper dose meant for Keith. The emergency pack in the red lion was the only one different from the others.

“Alright, here goes.” Lance aimed the syringe at Keith’s arm and pressed the infusion pump.

When the needle penetrated, Keith woke with a sharp intake of breath. Pidge and Lance were immediately in his space.

“Keith..!” Pidge smiled with her tear-stricken face.

“Keith, buddy,” Lance started softly, “I need you to stay awake okay? You’ve got a nasty hole in your head and I gotta bring you all the way back to the castle.”

Keith looked a little dazed, “...yeah...helmet...off...”

“No shit.” Lance laughed. The side effect of the drug was similar to being high and Lance had always wanted to see what it'd do to Keith. But with how Keith currently looked, Lance didn't feel thrilled at all, “C’mon, man. Red came all this way for you.”

Keith groaned as Lance began to carry him out of Pidge's hold.

Matt gently took his sister's hand and guided her to stand. Then he placed her hand on the cloth that was held to keep Keith's wound from getting worse, “Go. Make sure he’s safe.”

Pidge nodded and went with Lance into the red lion. Lance gently cradled Keith on his lap as he sat in the pilot seat. Pidge stood just behind the chair while still softly keeping pressure on Keith’s head.

“Red, let’s go.” Lance said out loud.

The red lion purred to life and began its ascent. Once the coms were connected, Shiro's voice came through.

 ** _“Lance! The coast is clear up here.”_ ** Shiro announced, _**“Allura and I will land and assist Matt with the colony. Hunk’s waiting for you at the hangar.”**_

“Shiro...” Lance was so scared, “Keith is-“

_**“He'll be alright, Lance. You have to believe it. Keep talking to him.”** _

Lance exhaled slowly to calm his nerves. Then, he looked down to see Keith struggling to keep his remaining eye open.

“Keith, c'mon dude. Stay awake for me.”

"...trying..." Keith's eye drooped again and again.

"Try harder. Or I'm cancelling the party."

Keith grumbled, "..wha..?"

Lance cupped Keith's cheek to get his attention and whispered excitedly, “You do know right? We haven’t even thrown you your graduation party yet!”

Keith slurred with his left eye fluttering, “...I get...a gradua-..tion party? ...for what?”

Pidge snorted, “Your stupid physical contact program, dummy.”

Keith smiled dreamily, “Didn't know...I get party...for that...”

Lance was trying so hard to stay calm. But Keith sounded so weak. He was breathing too softly. He looked so awful. And Lance... He was helpless.

“Of course you do, buddy.” Lance would never admit to his voice cracking as tears rolled down his cheeks, “That’s why you gotta stay awake okay? We’re almost there.”

Keith's glazed left eye looked up towards Lance, “...you ugly...when you cry...”

Without the usual heat in his words, Lance scolded, “Shut up, Keith. You and your ugly mullet can shove it.”

Keith laughed weakly, “I thought I was...cute..?” he teased with a raised eyebrow.

Both Lance and Pidge laughed even though their silent tears never stopped.

Lance's held Keith closer, “You’re unbelievable Keith... We're almost there.”

“...Lance?”

“Yeah buddy?”

“...’m tired.. ‘an you do...that...brow thing?”

Lance knew he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t do it. Keith was going to fall asleep if he did it and it’d be Lance’s fault if Keith didn’t stay awake-

...But the thing is, Lance was weak. Weak to that voice. Weak when Keith asked him for help ‘cause Keith never does. Weak because it might be the last time he could ever help Keith; the last time he'd ever watch Keith fall asleep from a simple gesture.

Lance looked down at Keith whose left eye had finally closed. It wouldn't be so hard to help Keith sleep, would it? Lance's breathing hitched.

At least... Even if Keith slipped away, he'd do it while feeling Lance's fingertips on his eyebrows.

 

* * *

 

As soft familiar fingers started playing with Keith's eyebrows, he hummed approvingly. It was so nice. Keith would ask Lance to do it forever if he could. Suddenly, Keith felt something warm drip on his face.

Keith opened his left eye to see Lance's face scrunched up above him as tear after tear fell from his eyes. Keith didn’t even notice how hard Lance was trembling. Did Keith really looked that bad? Even Pidge was crying. God, Keith was such an awful friend.

“...Lance... Pidge...” Keith did his best to smile at them. It was getting harder and harder but he could do this one last thing, “...I’ll be okay...”

Keith felt both of them hug him; Lance gripping his arm and Pidge cradling his head. It felt so good. Keith kept repeating his words. He wished he could comfort them better but he was so very tired.

 

* * *

 

Hunk was anxious when the red lion finally landed. He knew it was bad. But nothing could’ve prepared him for what was waiting in the red lion's cockpit. Hunk had seen Pidge and Lance cry before but never from this type of pain and sadness.

Hunk had to be the objective one. At that moment, he had to be the ground for his friends to stand on.

Hunk softly coaxed them both, “Let me take Keith, guys. Coran and I already prepared a nice healing pod with galra-human hybrid setting.” They were quivering so badly. And their tears never seemed to stop.

With gentle prying hands, Hunk finally had enough leverage to hoist Keith in his arms. He didn’t want to leave Lance and Pidge in such a vulnerable state but Keith needed him the most. Once Keith was secured in his hold, Hunk exited the red lion and made a beeline towards the healing pods without jostling Keith too much.

Keith seemed to be half awake but he eventually acknowledged Hunk, “...hey ‘unk..”

“Yo, Keith.” Hunk smiled. They were almost there-

“..’id you know?.. I’m getting a...grad..ating party.. For that..progr'm thing..”

“Yeah? Lance told you huh? Knew we couldn’t keep it a secret from you.” Hunk laughed a little. Just one more turn.

“..’nver had a party... Heard of ‘em and...seen ‘em but...never had one...”

Keith really had a knack for breaking their hearts lately. Hunk could only imagine what Keith babbled in the red lion to reduce Pidge and Lance to the state they were in.

“Keith.” Hunk looked him in the eye, “When you wake up, I’m gonna throw you the biggest party. And you’re going to enjoy it because we’ll all take turns hugging you.”

Keith laughed breathlessly, “..I’d like that...”

They were finally at the pods. Coran rushed towards them and helped undress Keith from his armour as fast as possible without aggravating any wounds. Coran also made quick work of the dried blood on Keith’s face before opening the special pod coded for Keith's hybrid body.

Just as Hunk was helping Keith inside, Keith's eyes opened wide, “..Matt...seeds... Safe... The seeds Hunk...they’re safe...”

Hunk could only nod frantically as he memorised the jumbled message, “Got it.” Then he smiled, “See ya Keith.”

Keith smiled back. And the pod closed.

Hunk finally released a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. He took a look at Keith and sighed. Keith looked better already since he wasn’t covered in blood anymore. Hunk turned to Coran who had moved to the pods' control panel.

“How is he?”

“Well, Keith is in good hands! 13 more dobashes and he would’ve lost too much blood. Luckily the red lion made it on time!”

That was when Hunk remembered Lance and Pidge.

“Coran, I gotta go! Take care of Keith!”

Hunk didn’t wait to hear Coran's reply as he ran back to the red lion's hangar. They were still there in Red’s cockpit. They weren't exactly kids anymore but Hunk was certain he had never seen Pidge and Lance so small.

Hunk slowly smiled at them as he came closer, “Keith's going to be okay guys.”

The relief on Pidge and Lance's face was heartwrenching. When Hunk opened his arms, Lance and Pidge didn’t hesitate. As Hunk hugged them, he pretended they weren’t all sobbing and shaking from almost losing Keith.

 

* * *

 

The pirates on the surface had all been apprehended by the colonists and Matt by the time Allura and Shiro arrived. After their red paladin was secured in a pod, Coran had used his private hailer to inform Allura, _**"He'll be inside the healing pod for 26 vargas, princess.”**_

“Noted, Coran.” Allura sighed in relief. She had long taken off her helmet soon after landing. When she heard Lance talking to Keith in the red lion, she couldn’t bear it. She had to take it off to disconnect from the coms. But Shiro didn’t.

She watched as Shiro held his composure, listening to every exchange of words in the red lion. Shiro had a tendency to overcompensate when any of them was injured so he always stepped back and let the others handle it.

But it had never been Keith. Keith was more than just a friend for Shiro. He was more than just part of the Voltron family. Keith was part of Shiro's own family from Earth. They’d known each other far longer than any of the other paladins.

So yes, it was hard for Shiro to stay away but he himself knew how badly he’d react to seeing Keith being severely injured. Just as Coran had announced of Keith’s safe arrival to Allura, Shiro was seen to have fallen to his knees. Perhaps Hunk had delivered the good news over the coms.

From where she stood, Allura saw Matt slowly approaching Shiro. Matt knelt in front of Shiro and gently took off his helmet. In an instant, Matt was hugging Shiro fiercely and consoling him as Allura saw Shiro's hands and body began to tremble.

Allura wondered if Shiro was crying. She couldn’t tell from her angle. The longer she stared, the more she felt she was intruding. So she looked away and thanked the stars for letting them all live for one more quintent.

 

* * *

 

Keith’s abrupt message for Matt left them all confused. What was left of the back compartment of the transport vessel only carried part of the provisions from the castle. No signs of the seeds at all. Since none of the pirates had escaped, it was impossible they had stolen the seeds. It was their goal apparently after they had intercepted Matt's transmission and discovered Voltron would be delivering the seeds. The pirates launched an all-out attack.

Anything from planet Lanula was worth trillions of groggerries. Since the planet was poisonous and only those with permission could enter, it wasn't a surprise that the seeds of the planet would be targeted.

And if Keith said it was safe, surely he meant it and had perhaps hidden it. Keith was still out of commission for another 20 more vargas when Hunk had relayed Keith's message during the small gathering they had in one of the colony houses.

Matt hummed in thought before turning to Allura, “Princess, if I recalled, Alteans do have telepathic ability, correct?”

“Yes. What are you suggesting?”

“Well. If Keith is telepathic as the Lanulans says he is, and if the seeds are sentient, Keith would probably protect them. The seeds would've known they were being targeted and indirectly asked Keith for help. He probably buried the seeds somewhere after he crash landed.” Matt shrugged, “Everything on and from Lanula is and should be sentient. If you can... I don't know? Talk to the seeds? Find their quintessence?”

“Or we could just wait for Keith to wake up.” Pidge shrugged, looking exactly the same as her brother.

“Or that too.” Matt agreed.

Allura sighed, “I could try. I did something similar with the Balmera before.”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed, “That was awesome. Hey, Hunk, how’s Shay doing?”

Hunk squinted at hearing Lance's teasing tone, “She’s fine, thank you for asking. Actually no, scratch the ‘thank you'. WHY are you asking?”

“No reason~”

Shiro smiled at them, “Lance, drop it.”

“Urgh, fine. So Allura! When do want to try the seed-talk with the ground?"

“Seed-talk, Lance?” Pidge deadpanned, “Really?”

“It was either that or hunting seeds. Seed-talk is better.”

 

* * *

 

Allura stood where the transport vessel's back compartment had previously crashed. She followed an unknown trail of quintessence and used it to guide her. The others followed her from a distance, giving her as much free space to work with.

Trusting her instinct, Allura followed the energy she had found. They were all scattered but consistent. It moved separately but headed in the same direction.

Finally, Allura stepped onto a large clearing with measured patches of perfectly loosened soil.

“Matt! May I know what this place is?”

The party caught up in time to hear Allura's question. Matt dutifully responded, “It’s where the seeds were supposed to be planted.”

Curious, Allura approached one patch and crouched down. She let her palms softly reach for the soil and then—

Memories began playing. Emotions began flooding.

Allura felt safe. Something was protecting her. She could smell human blood. She could also feel the utter exhaustion of her protector. And then, a voice, familiar and strong between laboured breaths.

_“No idea what I’m doing... But I’m supposed to be able to talk to you guys.... So here goes...”_

Allura felt as Keith knelt on soft land. She could feel his intentions even before he began.

_“Bad guys are here... Not sure if its for you guys but...”_

Keith dug with his bare hands. Even though he was so disoriented. Even though he was in pain.

_“If they are... I need you guys to just stay here okay?... If you can disperse through the soil.... that’d be great... Matt would be so proud...”_

Allura could see Keith’s imagination. She felt his soft laughter being accompanied by a vision of Matt’s possible reaction towards the discovery of sentient seeds.

_“...but if you can’t.... I’ll come back for you guys... I promise...”_

And Allura believed him. Just as the seeds did. But they could do more. So, with Keith’s words, the seeds spread and spread, till they found clear land and fertile soil. They felt the essence of Matt Holt; a person they knew Keith trusted from the brief imagination vision Keith had of Matt. The seeds were content as long as it led back to Keith, their saviour.

They were so thankful and so happy. They hoped Keith would return someday. They’d wait for him and his kind hands that had carried them to safety. They’d wait for him. Always.

“ALLURA!”

Allura woke up from her trance with a gasp. She was still touching the soil but there were tears streaming down her eyes and she was surrounded by her Voltron family, all squatting down with her.

“Are you alright, Allura?” Pidge asked quietly.

Allura began laughing, “Yes, I’m fine.”

“Not with that face, you’re not.” Lance crossed his arms.

“These aren’t my tears.” Allura laughed again, “The seeds... They’re all here. They found this place and made it their home.”

Matt looked both terrified and excited, exactly how Allura had seen Keith imagine.

“How did the seeds even—they moved on their own?”

“Yes. Keith buried them elsewhere to keep them hidden but they wanted to do more for Keith. So when Keith suggested them to move, they did.” Allura patted the patch of soil again, speaking fondly, “...even when Keith was in pain... He held them so dearly.. And they’ll never forget his kind hands... They can’t wait to see him again.”

Lance snorted, “Pfft. Tell them to get in line.”

The group shared a good laugh. Just like the seeds, they couldn’t wait to see Keith again either.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided that there will be only one more chapter! And I hope that it'll be the fluffiest. Thank you to all of you kind hearted souls who gave this fic a chance! I hope you had a fun ride!
> 
> Till the last chapter then~!!


	6. Graduation Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the late posting but I had my reasons! I wasn't happy with a few scenes in the previous chapters so I edited them until I'm partially satisfied (you'll never be truly satisfied urgh). Since this fic gets a wave of new readers every time I update, I wanted it to be sort of perfect when the final chap is up~
> 
> Thank you to every single one of you for the generous support of my first voltron fic TwT
> 
> Even though there are many considerably OOC scenes, I'm glad you've enjoyed it enough to read this far! ^3^

Keith liked being present when any of his teammates exited the healing pods. It was a chance for him to catch them and hold them close, ensuring himself that they were again, safe and healed. It was one of Keith's only guilty pleasure since he started to accept them as his new family. Never did he thought he’d be the one to be caught from the cryopod one day.

One moment he was floating in water, then he was falling. But soon he was caught in very familiar arms. Keith groaned and struggled to wake himself up.

“Easy, buddy... I got you.”

“...Shiro..” Keith managed to get his legs to work and then his arms. He lifted his head and was greeted with Shiro's warm smile.

“You okay? How you feeling?”

Keith found his footing again and stood on his own, releasing the strong grip he had on Shiro's arms, “Better.”

Shiro nodded before he smiled apologetically and side stepped, “Enough to take a punch?”

“Wha-“ Keith suddenly grunted as he was punched in the abdomen and Pidge came into his sight. Keith lurched forward slightly and found himself in the crook of Pidge's neck as he recovered from the shock. It didn’t hurt as much as it had surprised him. He realised Pidge's arms were wrapped around his waist.

She harshly whispered into his ear, “Don't. You. EVER. Do something like that again.”

Keith relaxed into Pidge's arms and slowly hugged her smaller body back. Keith could hear the shakiness in her voice as though she was one touch away from crying. That was when Keith remembered looking up to Lance and Pidge. He remembered their tears and distraught faces. Keith never knew that he could feel such guilt. No one ever cried for him before. Keith tightened his arms around Pidge and she responded similarly.

When they finally separated, Pidge's eyes were wet but no tears were shed. She glared at Keith as she adjusted her glasses, “Next time, I’m keeping you strapped to your chair and it can only be override when I say so.”

Keith could only shake his head disapprovingly with a smile. Behind Pidge, Lance stood with crossed arms. He didn’t look happy.

Pidge moved out of the way when she saw Keith made eye contact with Lance.

“Looks like even the pods can’t heal your ugly mullet.”

Keith scoffed, “Will you leave my hair alone already?”

Lance came closer towards Keith, “Never.” Finally, Lance smiled and warmly said, “Welcome back.”

Keith was pretty sure he was supposed to do something. He could almost feel Lance’s need for Keith to... move. He was never really good at social cues so Keith opted to raise his fist towards Lance, ready for a fist bump.

Lance's smile dropped and he deadpanned as Keith's fist was swatted away, “Fuck that, man.”

Before Keith could even question what he did wrong, Lance was pulling him into a hug with one arm around Keith's neck and the other on his lower back. Keith was so shocked, it took him some time to hug Lance back.

Unlike Pidge's threat, Lance asked for compensation, “For all the shit you put me through yesterquintent, you owe me weekly facial sessions until I wipe your horrible pores off this universe. Starting today."

Keith laughed a little before conceding with pseudo exhaustion, “Fine.”

“Alright guys, break it up!” Hunk clapped his hands to gain attention, “Keith hasn’t eaten in over a day and that should be law-breaking.”

Lance released Keith and smiled at Hunk, “He's all yours buddy.”

“C'mon, Keith.” Hunk waved his hand towards the exit.

Lance patted Keith's back as Keith started walking.

“Oh and Keith.” Shiro called in the last moment when Keith was at the door. When Keith turned, Shiro continued, “Some...’things’ want to meet you later at the colony planet. Come meet me at Black's hangar after you’ve freshen up, okay?”

“Sure.” Keith nodded.

Then he went on to the kitchen where Hunk was already prepping something for him.

“You can sit down first, Keith. I’ll plate this really quick.”

Keith did as he was told and watched Hunk cut some weird-looking fruits.

“It’s from the colony planet.” Hunk explained when he caught Keith staring at the striking pink fruit, “Taste like grapes with a pear aftertaste. Not bad for a pink fruit.”

It was always nice to watch Hunk in the kitchen because that was where Keith noticed that Hunk was in his element. Anyone could tell how passionate Hunk was with food if they saw him cook. Which was why Keith also realized that Hunk was acting weird. He dropped two bowls, twice each in the span of two minutes or so. Hunk was distracted and when he almost cut his finger, Keith decided to intervene.

“Hunk? You okay?” Keith frowned, “You’re a little...off?”

Hunk paused. Then he looked at Keith with an anxious look, “Sorry Keith but like.. What if Red didn’t ask Lance for help to get you? We’re always so confident that you’d pull through. You almost died, Keith. Another 15 minutes and you wouldn’t have enough blood. Where the heck are we going to get a galra-human blood transfusion?” Hunk took a deep breath and stared down at the cut fruits, “I really just want to hug you right now even though you just got out and you’re healing and Pidge actually punched you oh God but damn it Keith you should have seen her and all your blood was on her and I have no idea how my stomach handled all that but I guess getting you to the pod was more important and my stomach understood-“

“Hunk!”

Hunk jerked and turned to Keith who was already standing beside him. He was rambling so hard, he didn’t realise when Keith stood up from his seat at the dining table.

“Y-Yeah, Keith?”

Keith awkwardly lifted his hands with a soft neutral face, consenting to a hug. Hunk instantly put the cutting tool down and gave Keith a bear hug that lifted him slightly off the ground. Keith didn’t mind, instead he wrapped his arms around Hunk as best as he could.

While they were hugging, Hunk saw Pidge peek at the corner of the dining room entrance. She sneered and teased, “Gaaaaaaayyy”

Hunk just gave her the deadpan look. By the time he put Keith down, she was already gone. Keith was smiling and he even offered Hunk his fist. It was really cute how much Keith liked bumping fists with everyone. After a very enthusiastic fist bump between them, Hunk went back to plating the fruits and serving it with the sweet sauce he prepared earlier.

Keith ate it heartily. Hunk wasn’t surprised since it was one of the best dishes he’d made in the past year. When Keith was halfway done, he looked at Hunk with a confused face and asked, “Was that Pidge just now?”

“Yeah... She’s been doing that lately.” Hunk helped clear Keith's plate and told him to go on ahead to Shiro while he prepped more food for Keith's graduation party.

“What do you wanna do for your party Keith? We can do loud and obscene or quiet but cool~ And I’ll prep more of these grape-pear things and make a drink out of them. Like punch.”

Keith just smiled wearily, “Anything you make is fine, Hunk.” He shrugged, “Can we do it like movie night?”

Hunk smiled back, “Sure, man.”

 

* * *

 

  
No matter how much time had passed, Keith would never get used to approaching Black in its hangar. It reminded him too much of the time when he had led the team. It was a bumpy ride and Keith knew he was currently a better stand-in leader from then but there was still that feeling of failure.

Inside Black, Shiro was already waiting. He lowered the stairs for Keith to get on and com-ed Coran to open up the hangar doors.

“Soooo.. What exactly am I supposed to be expecting here? I didn’t actually rescue anyone.”

Shiro smiled, “You'll see.”

The journey from the castle to the planet was short and oddly quiet. Since they weren’t supposed to stay long, the castle was kept hovering in space. Allura and Coran deduced that they would most likely overstay and waste time should the castle land on the planet’s surface. And it was better to keep outsiders away from the castle, no matter how trustworthy they seemed.

Once Black landed on a clearing in the middle of the forest, Keith and Shiro were greeted by Matt.

“Shiro, can I have a moment with Keith?”

Shiro raised an eyebrow at Matt and questioned, “Just you two? Not with me within listening radius? Why?”

Matt rolled his eyes, “Careful Shiro. Your big brother syndrome is showing. And yes, not with you within listening radius.”

After Shiro reluctantly agreed, Keith went to Matt who then ushered Keith into the forest. The first thing Keith realised about Matt was the startling bruise on his cheek. It must’ve happened during their battle with the pirates. As they walked on a trail with fallen crispy red leaves, Keith could hear Shiro tailing after them. He wondered in their shared silence, what it was that Matt wanted to talk about.

“You know...” Matt started after a while, “I've never seen Katie cried the way she did when you bled out on us.”

Keith almost forgot to breathe. He had no idea what to say to that.

Matt smiled as he reminisced, “The last time I even saw her cry was when Shiro lent us a Japanese movie. Hachiko, I think. Then again, she was only 9. And it was only two tear drops.”

Keith remained silent.

“Listen, Keith. I’m not happy being away from her ‘cause.. Well I thought I was the only one she had. But then I saw how hard she tried getting to you. And then she just broke down when you weren’t waking up... And I just want to thank you and everyone too I guess.” Matt turned to Keith with a sad smile, “At least I know that when I’m not with her, she still has a family she wants to protect. Seriously, Keith. If you didn’t make it, I don’t think she’d ever forgive me.”

Keith felt defensive all of a sudden, “It wasn’t even your fault!”

Matt laughed, “You might think so. Technically, I sent you guys to Lanula in the first place.”

It made Keith frown and he tried to rebuke but Matt didn’t allow him. Matt's gloved hand ruffled the hair on his head in good humour, cutting off Keith's thoughts, “I’m glad you healed properly. It hurt us y'know, seeing you like that when we were practically unscathed.”

That made Keith turn to look up to Matt, “Your cheek says otherwise.”

Matt's eyes widened in surprise as though he didn’t know what Keith was talking about but then Matt laughed out loud, “Oh! That!” Matt patted his bruised cheek with a teasing smile at Keith, “This is because someone said it was okay for my sister to punch me if ‘things went south’.”

Realisation struck Keith, “I can’t believe she took it seriously.”

Matt laughed again, “Katie will never change. And actually, there’s one more thing I wanted to say.”

“What?”

“Shiro loves you, Keith.”

Keith stiffened. He already knew which direction Matt was going. He already noticed how quiet Shiro was ever since he woke up.

“He loves you as much as I love Katie, if not more. And he almost lost you yesterday. I’m not sure I have permission to tell you how he reacted but it was ugly as heck.” Matt grimaced at the past memory before he smiled at Keith again, “Go talk to him, okay?”

Keith nodded solemnly with a lowered head, “...I know..”

“That’s good.” Matt looked down and paused, “Oh. And we should probably stop walking.”

They’d reach another clearing but it felt...different. Keith started feeling his heart beat faster. He knew this place but at the same time he didn’t. Keith looked around and started walking over raised patches of soft-looking dirt despite Matt's words.

Shiro caught up to Matt and watched Keith cautiously step around the clearing. Allura appeared from her hiding place and joined them as well.

“Did he come here on his own, Matt?” Allura whispered.

“Yeah.” Matt crossed his arms, “He led us here, actually. I don’t think he realised.”

As Keith reached the middle of the clearing, he felt it a similar pull like when he was at Lanula, while chasing the Mythrin. Something sentient was calling him again. Slowly, Keith understood, “...the seeds...?”

Both Allura and Keith heard the multiple voices of each seed. It wasn’t actual words, more like a rush of feeling. They were so happy, thankful, grateful, and-

All of them watched as stems emerged from each patch, growing and growing in size, branch after branch extending with luscious leaves and blooming flowers.

Allura, Matt and Shiro were at awe, gaping at the clearing as it became its own forest. Shiro couldn’t stop looking at the pseudo cherry blossoms.

The voices never stopped and Keith started feeling overwhelmed but in a good way. There was so much affection and gratitude channelling through the clearing. All Keith could do was whisper back, “You're welcome...”

When Keith turned, he saw Matt and Allura, both smiling proudly at him. Then Allura's gaze shifted elsewhere and Keith followed it curiously. She was looking at Shiro who had moved to admire one of the trees that resembled Japan's cherry blossoms. When Keith turned back, Matt gestured his head in Shiro's direction. Then, Matt spoke to Allura who nodded in response before they quietly turned to leave the forest together.

It was blatantly obvious Matt wanted to give privacy for Keith and Shiro to ‘talk it out'.

Keith looked to Shiro and stared at his back for awhile. He didn’t actually know what to say. But he wanted to comfort Shiro. Keith walked to where Shiro stood and calmly placed his right hand over Shiro's left shoulder, a gesture they’d shared for a long time.

Shiro took Keith's hand in his right and turned around so that they were facing each other. Shiro was staring at their clasped hands with a soft smile. Keith noted the utter vulnerability in Shiro's eyes. When their eyes met, Keith understood everything Shiro wanted to tell him without actually saying anything; Shiro was scared of losing him, absolutely terrified but he’s so very grateful that Keith was still alive.

They both moved closer in sync as their unoccupied hands embraced each other, face buried in the crook of the other’s neck, clasped hands in between their chests squeezed tightly. No words were needed.

Shiro's breathing was deep but strained, as though wanting to calm himself. His hand slid across Keith’s nape till his fingers were lost in Keith’s hair; Shiro was holding Keith like a precious object. In response, Keith's hand on Shiro's back slid higher to comfort him.

When Keith realised Shiro was still not breathing right, he whispered, “I’m okay, Takashi..”

Those words made Shiro's hold tighten briefly. His next inhale and exhale was much better.

Keith lost track of time but when they parted, it felt almost too soon. Shiro had calmed down greatly and his facial expression already looked better. Keith smiled softly when Shiro's usual smile returned.

Suddenly, a static noise and Lance's muffled voice emitted from Shiro’s belt, _**“..iro? ...Shiro!..”**_

Keith frowned, “What’s that?”

“New portable com Pidge built while you were healing.” Shiro unstrapped the velcro to a small pocket and took out a black device, “Still a prototype though. Hello? Lance?”

_**“Oh cool these things do work. Is Keith with you?”** _

Just for the fun of it, Keith shook his head. Shiro raised his eyebrows but played along, “Uh no, he left with Matt and Allura.”

_**“Don’t bluff, Matt just came back with Allura and Blue. KEITH I CAN SEE YOUR UGLY MULLET AND YOU’RE STANDING NEXT TO SHIRO”** _

Keith took the bait so easily, "LEAVE MY HAIR ALONE”

_**“I KNEW IT. Keith get your butt back in the castle, your ugly pores have an appointment with Dr. Lancey Lance and-“** _

Keith abruptly took the device from Shiro and pressed the only button on the underside.

Shiro pointed out, “That's just a mute button for us. He can still hear us if we’re loud enough.”

“Good.” Keith returned the device and then turned to the trees around him, “Can we stay awhile?”

Shiro smiled knowingly, “I did promise you one day we’d see the cherry blossoms together.”

Keith huffed, “That’s because you were so offended I never heard of it.” He sat down and made himself comfortable on the petal-covered dirt.

“Still am.” Shiro chuckled as he joined Keith, “But I guess this’ll do. Its close enough.” Shiro exhaled, “It’s perfect actually..”

They comfortably leaned on each other and watched the beautiful pink petals slowly dance in the air before landing safely on the ground. It was truly visually perfect. Meanwhile, Lance was shouting into his communication device.

 

* * *

 

  
“I can’t believe you’re late to your appointment because you went flower-watching with Shiro! And I still can’t believe the seeds love you so much, they skipped the larvae and pupa stage and straight went to being butterflies!” Lance continued his scolding and rambles as he dragged Keith all the way from Black's hangar to the large bathrooms.

Once inside, Lance brought Keith to his own personal beauty parlour. There was a mattress, laid and rolled towels, candles, multiple vials and bottles of weird-colour liquids and so much more. The parlour was located right in between the shower stalls and bath tub area.

Lance grasped Keith's shoulders to look at him at eye level and sternly ordered, “Strip. Leave only the shirt if you must. Gloves, off. I don’t care about your pants though. Bottom half just wear whatever you’re comfortable with in this place.” Then, Lance left to one of the bathroom cabinets in the back.

Keith opted to just go along and took off everything except his shirt and pants. By the time Keith had folded his discarded clothes, Lance was holding a short brown cylindrical container with a lid.

“To the sinks!” Lance bellowed.

Everything was fine. Keith was completely alright with washing his face but then Lance started using the mouldy brown pebbles-

(“It's an alien facial scrub, Keith.”)

-on his face and Keith felt so disturbed. Why would anyone put such a thing on their face in the first place? After Lance helped get rid of the scrub, Keith honestly believed they were done.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Lance dragged him by his shirt from the bath entrance and sat him down on the mattress. Then, Lance took a small basin and left for the large sinks again. Lance returned with less clothes himself and a basin of hot water. He sat down on the mattress, placed the basin beside him and patted his thighs.

“C’mon Keith, lie down.” Keith complied with a sigh, “Head on my lap. Face up.”

Once in position, Lance rinsed a small towel into the basin and wrung it just so.

“Close your eyes.”

Keith complied and then felt the heat of the towel placed on his face.

“...is this necessary?” Keith asked warily.

Lance pursed his lips, “I’m opening up your pores, yes its necessary.”

Suddenly, Matt came in the bathroom with a towel around his naked hips. Matt stopped and stared at them while Lance stared back at him, almost daring him to say something. Matt slowly lifted his hands up in surrender and continued walking to the shower cubicles.

“How much longer do I have to suffer?” Keith groaned through the towel.

“Don’t be so dramatic. This should feel normal for a hothead like you.”

The sound of the running shower stream caught Keith's attention, “Someone here with us?”

“Hey Keith!” Matt shouted over the sound of the water, “Bonding with Lance?”

“He’s burning my face.”

“I am not!” Lance sputtered.

“Sounds like fun,” Matt laughed.

“Can I take it off now?” Keith asked as he fidgeted with his shirt.

Lance felt the tips of the towels, deeming it still warm and not cooled off enough, “No, not yet.”

After a few ticks, Keith asked again and even reached up to remove the towel. Lance snapped at Keith's hand and scolded, “Bad Keithy! Stop trying to disobey your senior!”

“I'm older than you!” Keith shouted in frustration.

“Not in the art of facial care, you’re not.”

Keith could hear the smugness in Lance’s voice.

The water stream from the shower cubicle stopped, allowing Keith to listen to the splatter of Matt's feet. Lance however was doing the weird stare-off with Matt again. Matt just smirked with a raised eyebrow.

As Matt turned to the entrance of the bath, he shouted in an all-too-friendly tone, “See ya Keith~”

Keith only muffled an incoherent reply and slightly raised his hand in a weak attempt of a wave. Finally, a few minutes after Matt left, the towel was cool enough to be removed. Keith's groan of relief was so exaggerated that Lance rolled his eyes. It then dawned on Lance that Keith had been taking his instructions seriously. There were at least 5 times when Lance believed Keith would just storm out on him.

Taking his chances with Keith still on his lap, Lance squished Keith's cheeks with a calculative face, pretending that he was assessing something on Keith’s face.

Keth asked monotonously, “Lansh, ish thish neshesharry?”

Finally, Lance's façade broke and he laughed, “Nah, I just like to squish your cheeks.”

When Keith glared up at him, it only made Lance laugh harder because annoyed Keith with squished cheeks was hilarious.

After his forehead was finger-flicked, Lance eased up, “Okay now sit up, face me.” Lance allowed Keith to stretch out his limbs before beckoning him, “Come closer.”

Once Keith was right where Lance wanted him to be, Lance nodded his approval. Then, he reached out for a small bowl beside the mattress and began uncapping a few vials. He mixed the ingredients to the right consistency and correct blue hue. He excitedly smiled at Keith, “I had Pidge and Matt compare the ingredients with stuff from back home and let me tell you, this mixture right here is about the best mask for your ugly pores.”

“Great.” Keith deadpanned.

“Alright now close your eyes. I’m gonna brush this all over face. DON’T touch it. I don’t want you to slap this away from your face like you did with the facial scrub.”

“You didn’t warn me!”

“How am I supposed to know you’ve never exfoliated?!”

Keith's confused face at the mention of the foreign term was enough to diffuse Lance's need to butt heads with Keith. Lance sighed and took a brush from his brush collection that he picked up at one of the space malls they visited a few months ago.

“Close your eyes.” Lance prompted gently.

Keith's shoulders slumped when he realized that their petty fight was over and he did as he was told. Lance was about to start but he noticed that Keith’s bangs covered some parts of his face.

“Your hair's too long. I’m gonna put some clips on them, okay?”

Keith nodded mutely.

Lance grabbed two hairclips (from when he used them for Allura and Pidge) from one of the containers and then paused when he faced Keith. Pliant Keith was something Lance would never get used to. Not to mention his added aesthetic features (minus the hair in Lance’s opinion). Keith still had his eyes closed, his eyelashes were too long and perfect as they rested on his cheeks and that _trust_ again. Yeah, Lance was never going to get used to that.

Before he could get the first clip on, he paused. There was someone staring at them from the entrance, someone who Lance hoped wasn’t there to see him staring at Keith for God knows how lon-

“Gaaaaaaaaayyy” Pidge drawled out as she caught Lance red-handed.

“Go away, short stack.” Lance grumbled.

Pidge snickered as she went to the shower cubicles.

Keith peeked and said to himself, “She's been doing that lately.”

Lance groaned and shouted to make sure Pidge heard, “She's been doing that since forever!” He huffed at Keith who instantly closed his eyes again.

“Relax, dude,” Lance diligently push the clips through the obtrusive bangs and clipped them in place, “I'm gonna start now.”

The mask texture was too thick and viscous compared to what Lance was used to on Earth but it was still effective if not better. Lance slowly brushed the mixture on Keith's forehead and dabbed some of the parts that he missed. He went on with the snail pace to ensure an even blue coat. Lance was so concentrated, he didn’t even know Pidge had left already.

While Lance was working with Keith’s nose, the red paladin asked, “Why did Pidge call us ‘gay’? She did that too when Hunk hugged me.”

Lance shrugged, “Its her way of saying she doesn’t care what gender we're attracted to. Also because she’s a peeping tom and likes to call us out on our bullshit.” Lance suddenly remembered ‘the look’ Matt gave him earlier, “You know what? I think it runs in the family.”

Keith was left to his own confused thoughts about Lance's words when suddenly, the mixture that Lance started brushing above his lips started dripping. Instinctively, Keith's tongue poked out to lick at it.

Lance's eyes widened before he deliberately tapped a finger on the jotting appendage, “Keith, no!”, making Keith immediately retract it back into his mouth. Lance quickly took a towel to wipe it off Keith’s lips.

“What were you thinking?!”

Keith shrugged aggressively, “It was dripping on my lips!”

“You don’t just LICK everything dripping on your lips! Don’t you remember that stupid planet with the pink rain 465 quintents ago?!”

Keith backed away slightly from Lance, “...you’ve been..counting the days since then?”

Lance groaned, “No, Keith, I was being hyperbolic! And that’s not the point! Pink rain, remember? You and Hunk took your helmets off for whatever damn reason and both of you- BOTH OF YOU, licked the damn thing! And got high for hours!”

Keith crossed his arms, eyes still closed and face still covered with the alien face mask, “We weren’t high. We just started singing.”

“SINGING JIBBERISH FOR HOURS.” Lance sighed and went back to finishing Keith's face, “I guess it was sort of cute how you and Hunk kept wanting to sit together. But the singing-“ Lance smiled, “You guys could have at least picked better songs than just random tunes.”

Lance was applying some touch ups when Keith explained, “Hunk wanted to sing songs together but I don’t know any. So we sang whatever we felt like.”

Putting the brush down with a frown, Lance asked, “What do you mean you don’t know any songs? You can open your eyes now by the way.”

Keith opened his eyes and shrugged, “Never had time for ‘em.”

Lance thought back to how diligent Keith had been aside from the attitude problem back in Garrison. Actually, after Shiro started paying attention to Keith, that was when things changed and suddenly, Keith was the star fighter pilot because Shiro was there to keep his head cool. After Shiro went missing, Keith plummeted. Lance never knew how important Shiro was to Keith until he had seen Keith dealt with Shiro's disappearance again. They all had a glimpse of what Keith went through in the desert following the failed Kerberos mission - they felt and witness his determination and eagerness to find Shiro.

With a mind-set and mentality like that, who had time to listen to songs anyway? Keith probably heard of songs in passing but he’d never have time nor reason to actually memorise them.

“Okay fine,” Lance yielded, “But you’ve had to at least seen musical movies. You can't miss out on those.”

Keith's face was one of complete and utter neutrality. Translation: He had no idea what Lance was talking about.

Lance started gesturing, “Y’know those movies? Where people start singing and dancing and breaking out into random songs in the middle of the streets? C'mon, Keith!”

Slowly, Keith shook his head.

“OH. MY. GOD.”

Lance’s eyes were so wide, Keith was almost worried it would pop out of his sockets.

 

* * *

 

  
After the face mask set, Lance removed it with accurate haste and cleaned Keith's face up before dragging Keith around yet again. Keith found himself with little energy to fight back. They ended up in the lounge where Hunk was fluffing up their blanket nest in front of the monitor, Shiro was taking bites from what seemed to be mini oddly-coloured burgers, and Matt was sitting down while towel-drying the hair of a grumbling Pidge.

Lance announced, “Guys, Keith has NEVER seen a musical before.”

There were collective shocked gasps from the whole room. Keith really didn’t understand what the big deal was. At least Shiro just looked mildly surprised and kept chewing his burger.

Lance then nodded seriously to Pidge, “Put on Grease.”

Pidge returned the nod and pulled the towel over her head. She then went to her computer on the couch the monitor was placed on.

Meanwhile, Hunk sat himself on the blanket nest and leaned back on the couch. Shiro followed with the whole plate of mini burgers and sat on Hunk's right; the plate was left on the couch cushion. Lance made sure to grab a drink before sitting on Hunk's left. Matt unceremoniously sat in front of Shiro before leaning back to rest himself on Shiro's torso. It looked so normal, no one commented. Keith hesitated to sit in between Hunk's legs again but Hunk reassured him by patting the empty space.

Once Pidge got things set up, she automatically went to sit on Keith. The very moment she landed on him, Hunk and Lance both drawled out teasingly, “Heteroooooo”

Pidge just huffed a laugh before she leaned back and produced a comb from her side. She simply held it over her shoulder until Keith silently took it from her. Keith was about to start brushing Pidge's hair but then he realized that Matt and Shiro was seated exactly the same way Pidge was with Keith and Keith with Hunk.

By theory, it would fit what Lance, Pidge and Hunk were doing so Keith pointedly stared at Matt and Shiro and said, “Gaaaaaaaaaay.”

It was quiet at first as Shiro and Matt just blinked stupidly at Keith but then Lance, Hunk and Pidge turned to their seniors and they broke out laughing.

“Good one, Keith” Pidge praised.

“Why is Matt here anyway? No offense.” Lance inquired, “Shouldn’t you be with the colonists?”

Matt shrugged, “I was only going to stay until the seeds grew properly. Someone saw to that already though.” he snickered.

“What about Allura and Coran? They’re not joining?” Hunk asked to everyone.

Shiro was the one who answered, “She said she and Coran wanted to make sure everything was fine with the colony. They’ll join us later.”

When the movie finally started playing, they all began giving their full attention to the screen. While Keith was absentmindedly brushing Pidge's hair, Hunk started offering Keith the bite-sized mini burgers. Keith accepted them straight from Hunk's fingers since his own hands were busy. Keith completely missed Hunk's relieved slump. He wasn’t sure if Keith was alright with hand-feeding. Little did he know, Keith learned to get used to it from one of his kinder foster homes.

And after Keith was done brushing Pidge's hair, he started taking the burgers from Hunk and feeding them to Pidge. Shiro and Matt just happily smiled at the easy display and gestures of affection the paladins were spreading. Lance even passed his cup around so that everyone didn’t choke on the burgers.

A sudden thought hit Keith, and it made him abruptly turn to Matt. Matt was so taken aback by the sudden movement, he asked with mild panic, “What's wrong, Keith?”

“I’ve fisted everyone in this room except you, Matt.”

Matt's jaw dropped so fast, he didn’t manage to process Shiro’s laughter or his sister's sudden shout, “FISTING ORGY-“

Hunk and Lance simultaneously clamped Pidge's mouth, causing her subsequent laughter to be muffled effectively.

Lance sighed, “Keith. What did I say about using ‘fisting’?”

Keith let out a quiet “Oh.” before addressing Matt again, “I meant fist bump. We haven’t.”

Matt slumped so hard onto Shiro and exhaled to the ceiling, “That was terrifying.” He finally smiled up at Keith and offered a friendly fist.

Keith nodded curtly and bumped their fists together. Luckily, Matt was used to seeing it initiated so he didn’t miss out on the wiggling fingers and bad explosion sound effect. Satisfied, Keith relaxed again with the freed Pidge in his arms. All was at peace. Until Keith leaned forward and asked Pidge quietly, “What's an ‘orgy’?”

Pidge gave a professional smile and turned to face Keith, “Well Keith, an ‘orgy’ is a friendly gathering betwee-“

All four hands; Shiro's, Matt's, Lance's and Hunk's, reached to clamp Pidge's mouth shut before any more misinformation was given out. She still laughed.

After all the shenanigans ended momentarily, Keith really started watching and listening to the musical movie. He found that he liked it. So much, that he didn’t even realize his body's reaction to it.

Pidge and Matt were the first to notice Keith’s toes wiggling to the beat of the songs. Then Hunk, Shiro and Lance realized Keith’s bopping head that also followed the songs’ beat. It was endearing to all of them. Keith’s eyes were glued to the screen by the time the fourth song was playing. Pidge and Lance happily sang along to the famous songs, especially the last one. It made Keith smile no matter how ridiculous the flying car scene was. Obviously a flying car didn’t look like that.

“So, Keith,” Matt questioned after the credits rolled, “Liked the movie? Who was your fav?”

“Danny.”

Lance was already whining about Keith’s obvious pick and then Hunk joined in to pitch in his thoughts. In the meantime, Matt suggested to his sister, “How ‘bout Hairspray?”

Pidge smirked at her brother, understanding his intentions immediately.

During the Hairspray movie, after the first song took place all throughout the streets and to a school, Keith decided he liked the second movie more. But then, a short glimpse of a character made Keith’s toes stopped wiggling immediately. Everyone except Pidge watched as Keith started tilting his head and frowning every time the ‘mother’ character appeared.

Keith finally asked, “...why does the mother look...so weird?”

Shiro chuckled, “It’s played by a male actor, that’s why.”

When it dawned on Keith, he leaned back so far into Hunk with wide eyes and full accusation in his voice, “It's _Danny_.”

They all laughed so hard at the betrayal in Keith's voice.

 

* * *

 

  
It was during the fourth movie when Hunk whispered, “Guys. I think Keith’s asleep.”

They all sat up a little and turned to Keith who was breathing evenly and slumped comfortably on Hunk. Lance played a little with Keith's eyebrows before opting to just smile at him. Shiro just gave Keith's head a soft pat while Matt brushed the back of his hand against Keith’s cheek.

A month ago, they wouldn’t have believed if anyone told them Keith craved physical affection. They wouldn’t have believed that Keith liked hugs and snuggles. They wouldn’t believe Keith even wanting to initiate fist bumps. And yet, there he was, tucked and cuddled in the middle of their sleepover pile.

Pidge adjusted Keith's head a little as how she did during their first movie night to make sure he wouldn't wake up with a sore neck. Satisfied by Keith’s head placement, Pidge smiled warmly at him, as did everyone else.

"Goodnight, Keith.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Allura and Coran left the humans to bond and then they snuck in when everyone was asleep in a puppy pile to take pictures cuz the Alteans love their Voltron Family. Lance and Shiro slumped on Hunk's shoulders, Keith in Hunk's arms and Pidge in Keith's arms while Matt is in Shiro's arms and both Holt siblings are turned towards each other. This is the picture Allura uses when Kolivan asks how's the Voltron family.
> 
> And believe me, Grease (1978) is awesome and my dad reacted similarly to Keith when we watched Hairspray (2007) and he saw THE SAME LEAD ACTOR FROM GREASE PLAYING THE MOM CHARACTER IN HAIRSPRAY. Kudos to you, John Travolta.
> 
> Thanks again for reading guys!

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on twitter and tumblr @ alisayamin !!!  
> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Beautiful art drawn by jellynely@tumblr  
> (P/s, I suck at keeping tabs of people tagging me online, so if you see/drew fanarts for my fics, feel free to leave a comment! Thank you lovelies ^3^)


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